Page 38 - 2009-10 Football State Finals Program

Last Year’s State Finals in Review

CENTER GROVE’S MIRACULOUS FOURTH QUARTER RALLY
STUNS DEFENDING CHAMP CARMEL

Top-ranked Center Grove rallied from a 19-point point the endzone for the two point conversion and a three point
fourth quarter deficit to stun No. 2 defending state cham- cushion.
pion Carmel, 36-33, in the 5A state championship game at In the fourth quarter, Center Grove managed to keep
Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. the Carmel offense on the sideline for all but nine plays and
It was the first football state championship for Center 3:19 of possession time.
Grove following its state Carmel scored on its
runner-up finish of 2000. first three possessions of
The 19-point deficit also the game with quarterback
was the largest overcome Morgan Newton connect-
to win a championship in ing with Eric Ardaiolo on
state finals history. Four an eight yard strike, Kurt
other teams had over- Freytag running in from
come 14 point margins one yard and Newton
previously. sprinting 54 yards to the
The win denied endzone.
Carmel a seventh state Center Grove an-
championship in football swered Carmel’s opening
in its third consecutive score with their own when
appearance in the 5A title Luallen pushed in from two
game. The two teams yards out at 1:43 of the
shared the Metropolitan first quarter.
Interscholastic Confer- Perhaps one of the
ence title this year and it biggest drives of the
was only the second win game, however, came just
for the Trojans in the two before halftime. Down 21-
teams last six meetings. 7, Center Grove’s Kevin
Carmel defeated Center Jones picked off Newton
Grove, 33-32, in a last at the Carmel 33 yard line
minute thriller on Sept. 5. with 2:05 to go before the
When Nick Logan’s break. The Trojans scored
19 yard run put the three plays later on Tanner
Greyhounds up 33-14 Riley’s 23 yard touchdown
with 3:06 to go in the third run with 1:16 to go cutting
quarter and the Trojans Carmel’s lead to 21-14 and
ensuing drive ended on that’s the way they went to
downs at the Carmel 11 the lockerroom.
yard line, things looked On the first drive of
bleak for Center Grove. the second half, Carmel
But the Trojans offense, which averaged 465 yards per drove 78 yards in 12 plays and Newton carried 14 yards for
game this season, finally came alive in the final 8:18 of the his second touchdown to extend their lead to 27-14.
game scoring 22 unanswered points. Newton finished the game with 211 yards on the ground
After forcing a Carmel punt, Center Grove took over at and 78 yards through the air on 12 of 19 passing, one
its own 42. From there they drove nine plays in 2:14 with touchdown and one interception. Luallen completed 13
senior quarterback Jordan Luallen carrying it five yards for of 20 passes for 167 yards and one touchdown and Swift
the score to cut it to 33-21. rushed for 73 yards on 17 carries.
On the ensuing kickoff, Center Grove tried on on-side Center Grove was led by ninth year coach Eric Moore.
kick and recovered the ball at Carmel’s 48-yard line. Nine Carmel was coached by Mo Moriarity who was making
plays and 2:53 later, Luallen connected with Michael Wood sixth championship game appearance and is one of nine
in the endzone on fourth and goal from the two yard line coaches in the state to have taken two different schools
cutting the margin to 33-28. to the state finals. He also took Bloomington South to the
The Trojans came back with another on-side kick and finals in 1993, 1997 and 1998.
recovered it at their own 42 after it bounced off a Carmel Saturday’s three games drew a record crowd of 40,680.
special teams player. From there, Center Grove used Coupled with Friday’s 15,370, the five-game total of 56,050
three passing plays and four running plays before Luke set a new state finals record topping last year’s standard of
Swift carried five yards to put the Trojans up 34-33 with :50 51,217.
seconds left. Swift then made a diving catch in the back of
38 37th Annual IHSAA State Football Tournament is proudly presented by the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS.