Phone: 317-846-6601
Fax: 317-575-4244 Website:
www.ihsaa.org
_____________________________________________________________________________
November 24, 2006
The Sheridan Blackhawks successfully defended their 1A state
championship with an overtime victory over the Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter Raiders
34-28.
In the overtime session,
The win by the Blackhawks was the record eighth in school history, all
under coach Larry Wright, which ties him with Dick Dullaghan
for the most in state tournament history. The eight school titles ties Roncalli for the most championships in state history. It was
the first overtime championship game in Class A history and only the fourth
ever.
In a game that featured
contrasting styles, the ground game won out for the Blackhawks
who were led by sophomore quarterback Nick Zachary’s 135 yards on 22 carries. Scott
also eclipsed the 100-yard plateau with 102 yards on 22 carries.
The Raiders, under first
year coach Ty Hunt, finished the season 13-2. Ritter
senior quarterback Nick Purichia threw for 279 yards
and a Class A championship game record four touchdowns. Senior Obed Bailey caught 7 passes for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Junior Luke Floyd and senior Joey Anderson also caught touchdown passes for the
Raiders. Seniors Adam Espinoza and DeAndre Maul led Ritter’s
defense with 10 and 9 tackles, respectively.
Taylor Scott of
The award is
presented to a senior nominated by his principal and coach who excels in mental
attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability. The award is named in
honor of Mr. Eskew, who served as the IHSAA’s third commissioner from 1962-76. Under Eskew’s
leadership, the IHSAA football state tournament was initiated in 1973.
Scott is a
four-year starter for
Besides sports,
Scott is a member of the National Honor Society and serves as senior class
president. He also holds a part-time job working on a local farm, is a
nine-year member of 4-H and also was invited to attend U.S. Senator Richard
Lugar’s Leadership Conference.
He
ranks 15th in his senior class of 91 students and plans to study telecommunications but is
undecided on which college he’ll attend.
“Taylor Scott is
an exemplary student and more importantly an exemplary person,” says Sheridan Principal
Edwin Baker. “He is mature, polite and an excellent role model for both his
peers and the community.”
He is the son of
Tony and Renea Scott of
Indiana Farm
Bureau Insurance, the IHSAA’s corporate partner,
presented a scholarship check for $1,000 to
VSN MEANS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY
Visit our friends at Visual Sports Network, the IHSAA’s official photographer for all state championship
events and one of the leading action photographers in the
STATE FINALS PROGRAMS AVAILABLE
Couldn’t be in there for the
state finals? You can still purchase a copy of the official souvenir program
while supplies last! Programs are $3.00 if you purchase in person at the IHSAA
Office (
Class A
Championship Game Records
New
Most Passes Attempted, A: 33 by Nick Purichia,
Most Passes Completed, A: 22 by Nick Purichia,
Most Passing Yards, A: 279 by Nick Purichia,
Most Passing Touchdowns, A: 4 by Nick Purichia,
Most Passes Attempted, A: 33 by Indpls. Cardinal Ritter
vs.
Most Passes Completed, A: 22 by Indpls. Cardinal Ritter
vs.
Most Passing Yards, A: 279 by Indpls. Cardinal Ritter
vs.
Most Passing Touchdowns, A: 4 by Indpls. Cardinal Ritter
vs.
Most Receiving Yards, A: 279 by Indpls. Cardinal Ritter
vs.
Most Receptions, A: 22 by Indpls. Cardinal Ritter
vs.
Tied
Fewest Pass Completions, A: 0 by Indpls. Cardinal Ritter vs.
Fewest Passing Yards
Allowed, A: 0 by Indpls.
Cardinal Ritter vs.
Most Touchdown Receptions, A: 2 by Obed Bailey, Indpls. Cardinal Ritter vs.
Quotes on the Class A Game
On Ritter’s overtime possession
“Ritter tried those first
two runs in overtime and we stuffed them.
We had six defensive backs in there.”
On the overtime touchdown
run
“It took a minute to soak in
that it was over with. Man did we really
just do it?
On
“I thought that was going to
be a game-breaker, but they came back and tied it up. He just does things like that,
he’s a heck of a player. I think the
fumble recovery was one of the biggest plays of the game. That put us up two, but they (Ritter) came
back and tied the score. But if we hadn’t
recovered the fumble they probably would have taken the lead. ”
On winning
“I’m just happy we won the
football game. I’ll reflect on that
later on, that’s what you play for. I’ve
always been competitive and even though I’m getting old I still have my
competitiveness.”
On Ritter’s QB Nick Purichia
“He’s a pretty good
passer. The last few weeks we’ve gone up
against some great passers and I thought we did a good job getting underneath
them. Tonight we didn’t have anybody
underneath them like we should have had.
We worked on it but we just didn’t get it done. It’s hard to simulate that type of passing
attack when you don’t do it in practice.
Overall the kids (Sheridan) responded pretty well with what they were
facing. I think the key was we were
dropping six in pass coverage and they (Ritter) still couldn’t run the
football. I wouldn’t say he (Purichia) was the best quarterback we’ve seen but I think
he was pretty good.”
On
“Nick’s an excellent
athlete. We’ve had several good athletes
but he’s going to go down as one of the best.
He’s only a sophomore. I don’t
think I’ll retire in the next few years.”
Indpls. Cardinal Ritter Coach Ty
Hunt
“Give credit to
“The game started out with a
lot of intensity and hard hitting. Nick
Zachary is a heck of a player and he made a momentum change in the first half
for
“In overtime they overloaded
our wide outs. We wanted to catch them
with the running game. Unfortunately, we
only got close. My kids played with
heart.”
“We believed we could get
the game won. We didn’t get it done, but
we played them (
“Coming into the game we
were mis-matched with their offensive line. Give our kids credit because we were able to
put up 28 points against them (
“Nick Purichia
made some nice reads of their defense and he put the ball on the money to his
receivers. We depend on our receivers to
catch it and we were able to do that today.”
“The last possession (in
regulation) I just told the kids to keep believing, just keep believing.”
“We knew our offense was
capable of doing things to move the ball.
We just had to step it up on defense.”