The Locker Room: Luers Loses a Heartbreaker in State Finals

The Bishop Luers football team fell just short to Western Boone in the Class 2A state championship game on Friday.

Evening everyone..and welcome inside the locker room...my name is petar hood..justin prince is taking a well- deserved weekend off..hope your holiday weekend's been great so far..appreciate you making us a part of it..well we made it to the finish line folks...if you had told me back in august that we were still going to be playing football the day after thanksgiving, i honestly wouldn't have believed you..

But here we are..the conclusion of what has been a crazy high school football season is upon us..two of our local squads carrying the flag for northeast indiana, beginning with bishop luers on friday..the knights making a record 16th appearance in the state finals, and this may be the most improbable of them all..from 3-6 in the regular season, to semi-state champions...and today, trying to write a storybook ending to a season no one on the south side will ever forget... ???let's head down to lucas oil stadium in indianapolis..

An 11 a-m kickoff this morning between bishop luers, looking for the program's 12th state title... and western boone, the two-time defending champions in class 2a... ???stars got the ball first, and an impressive first drive for webo is capped off by this elliot young to connor garrity touchdown toss... 12 plays, 67 yards... western boone jumps out to a 7-0 lead...???first possession of the game for the knights now... and they wasted no time getting brody glenn involved... the junior had over 1,000 yards receiving and 15 touchdowns coming into the game... his first grab of the day is good for 33 yards... that gets luers inside the redzone...???and a couple plays later, it's carson clark to glenn, again... their 16th hookup for a touchdown this season... this one from 11 yards out... we're all tied at seven..???ensuing drive for the stars... another long one... 14 plays, 57 yards, it took nearly seven minutes off the clock... and it ends in a rumbling robby taylor three yard score... they miss the extra point... so it's 13-7 western boone early in the second quarter..???but back comes bishop luers again... facing fourth and seven from the stars' 38 yard line... any guesses on who comes up with this catch??

Yep, it's glenn again... gets the knights a fresh set of downs..???and on the very next play... ramon anderson..

Boucnes it outside, spins off a tackler, hits the gas and finds the endzone... the senior caps off a 71 yard drive that takes less than two minutes... luers takes a 14-13 lead..???ensuing kickoff..

Casey baird fields it on his own 10 for western boone... gets a nice return out to the 40, but a great hit by brayden mcinturf... ball pop free... tru wallace jumps on it... bishop luers has the ball back...???and the knights take advantage of the turnover... clark dumps it off to krashaun menson... and how about the strength and balance from menson on this play... someshow shakes the tackle and stays on his feet... 31 yards later, it's another luers touchdown... knights take a 21-13 lead into the locker room..???webo forces a punt to start the third quarter... and the stars get right back into the game with an 11 play, 83 yard drive... young scores on the quarterback keeper... but webo fails on the two point conversion..

So luers keeps the lead, 21-19..???next touch for the knights... second and 19 on their own 21 yard line... you'd think by this point in the game they would be triple-teaming glenn... but somehow he's open again... 6 catches, 171 yards for brody... that one goes for a gain of 78... tackled just shy of the goal line.???and on the very next play... it's anderson finding paydirt again... the senior scoring his second touchdown of the day, his 10th of the season... luers takes a two-possession lead... it's 28-19...???but western boone showed all day why they're the two-time defending champs... they come right back with another time- consuming drive that ends in points... luke marsh is in from eight yards out... 13 plays, 60 yards... the stars pull back within two early in the fourth...???but luers, who had been striking quickly all day, answers with a long drive of their own... clark finds antwain lake over the middle for a gain of 25 and first down..???later in the drive... the knights go for it on fourth and goal from the seven yard line..

And kyle lindsay's gamble pays off... it's menson making another huge play... that puts bishop luers up 35-26 with just over three and a half minutes to go in the fourth quarter...???i thought it was over... i was wrong... at this point, stars gotta score quick... so they open up the bag of tricks... how bout dialing up the ole double reverse... young to marsh... dragging tacklers with him...march is finally brought down at the 18... it's a gain of 50..???few plays later... they give it back to taylor... his 43rd carry of the day... that's a state finals record... this one goes for a one-yard touchdown... western boone is back within two... but there's less than two minutes to play..???luers recovers the onside kick... all they need is one first down to put this one away... but a holding penalty backs them up... facing third and 16, knights keep it on the ground... webo's got no timeouts left... so they'll punt it to them with 45 seconds remaining..???under 30 ticks to go now... stars have it in knights territroy... they're still not in field goal range though, so they take a shot down field... incomplete, but garrity draws the pass interference flag on nick thompson..???that moves the ball down to the 21 yard line... and on the very next play, sophomore josiah smith... from 38 yards out.... splits the uprights... and just like that, western boone scores 10 points in a little over three minutes to take a one point lead with seven seconds left...???last chance for luers on the ensuing kickoff... da'von doughty picks up some steam, but he's eventually brought down at the 45 yard line as time expires..

???and that'll do it...luers loses a heartbreaker in the state finals, 36-35 your final... the knights finish the season with an 8-7 record..

And this team should be commended not only for the run they made throughout the postseason, but the way they played today..luers played outstanding football for 45 minutes..they just picked the wrong time to make a few mistakes, and one of the best programs in the state took advantage..great game by both teams...and with the kind of talent the knights have returning...clark, glenn, menson, sir hale... all will be back... they'll have as good a shot as anyone to make a return trip to lucas oil next november..