Friday Night Lights

I saw probably one of the best high school football games I can remember last night in the class 5A Regional with Columbus North and Evansville Reitz.

Time was running out late in the fourth quarter with Reitz trying to run out the clock to preserve a 14 point victory. But North wasn't quitting just yet - using a suddenly stout defense, judicious use of all three second-half timeouts, and an impressive 2-minute drill on offense, two touchdowns in the final two and a half minutes deadlocked the game at 28 and forced overtime. North's touchdown in overtime could not be matched by Reitz, and in a stunning finish, Columbus North became Regional Champions for the second time in three years, and the second time in school history.

After a 14-14 tie at the end of the first half, Columbus North fans began to become discouraged by the pounding ground game of Reitz, which dominated time of possession and scored twice in the third quarter. North's offense was moving the ball well, but an interception and fumble kept them off the scoreboard and led to Reitz's dominant option running game which kept North's defense on their heels and the offense on the sidelines.

The game included only one punt by Reitz, which was blocked and run in for a touchdown by Pat Kelly in the second quarter. Reitz used a pitch and quick-kick by their fullback, Mike Head, on the two occasions late when they were in punting situations. North did not punt the entire game, either scoring or turning the ball over on each of their possessions.

North finally eliminated mistakes with an impressive and efficient drive starting with about six and a half minutes left in the game, finally scoring on a 14 yard pass from Mike Hladik to Brandon Butler with 2:30 left on the clock. The fans around me in the home stands talked about how it might be too late for a North comeback, but hung on to hope and noted the determination being shown by the players.

But North's ensuing onside kick, though well executed, was fallen on just in time by a Reitz player. The end of the game was in sight, and everyone knew it was up to the Reitz offense to burn Columbus North's three remaining timeouts to close out their victory. North did use up their three timeouts, and the North defense successfully shut down the Reitz option attack when it mattered most. And on 4th down, Reitz ran a quick-kick by the fullback to return the ball to North's dangerous offense with only 2 minutes left.

At this point, the fans and parents in the home stands were hopeful. Two minutes is enough time for Mike Hladik to run the two-minute offense for the tying touchdown. Somebody jokingly yelled, "Let's go, Peyton" in encouragement to the Junior quarterback.

The drive took almost no time at all, with clutch catches by Keaton Shoutz, Brayden Barthlow and Brandon Butler, combining with a couple of poorly timed Reitz penalties - a Roughing the Passer and Pass Interference - to the well-executed touchdown pass to Barthlow after only 45 seconds. Unbelievably, and to the jubilation of the home crowd, the game had turned from a certain Reitz victory into overtime, where North had the momentum.

Time ran out on Reitz at the end of the fourth quarter, with a North sack of Reitz's Quarterback ending regulation.

In Indiana, overtime consists of giving each team the ball on the 10 yard line with 4 plays to score. North got the ball first, picked up 5 yards on two running plays to Alex Turner, then scored their touchdown with a nicely executed slant pass from Hladik to Butler.

Reitz got their chance, and also picked up about 5 yards on 3 running plays. On fourth down, they tried a pass, but a strong pass rush from North's defensive front and tight coverage in the end zone meant the pass was overthrown and incomplete.

There were some bizarre incidents with the officiating. The first occurred at the end of the first half, where a clearly incomplete pass to Brayden Barthlow went without a whistle. Finally realizing he hadn't heard the whistle on the play, a Reitz defender picked up the ball and ran back to the North 35. The officials stuck with their decision of a completed pass and fumble, and would not tolerate any discussion with the North coaches.

But then, after Reitz's final touchdown, their ensuing kickoff went out of bounds on about the two or three yard line. A flag was thrown for a kick out of bounds, and the ball placed at the 35. But the Reitz coach walked all the way out to the middle of the field as North was lining up for their first offensive play. Instead of flagging the coach, the officials listened to his objection (that a North player had touched the ball before it went out of bounds). Accepting the Reitz coach's arguments, they moved the ball back to the three.

From my perspective, both calls were incorrect. But to overturn one bad call based on a coach's objection while refusing to listen to the other coach on another missed call is terrible officiating. I can't recall ever seeing, at any level in sports, an official overturning a call based on a coach's objection. It's disappointing, because we should expect the best officials in the state to be working games at this stage. Fortunately, neither call had a direct effect on the outcome.

It was certainly an entertaining night for the fans, but also a game the players will probably remember with a smile the rest of their lives.

After this accomplishment, North gets a rematch of the 2004 SemiState blowout at the hands of perrenial Indiana 5A champion Warren Central. Most would predict that once again, North, or really every other high school team in the state, doesn't have a prayer against Warren Central's nationally recognized team of division I college football recruits. They defeated their rivals at Ben Davis on the same night by the score of 42 to 7. I hear they've got over 60 players who bench over 225. That's incredible for a high school program.

But don't tell these guys that.