Phone: 317-846-6601 Fax: 317-575-4244 Website: www.ihsaa.org
Blake Ress, Commissioner
_________________________________________________________________________
November 28, 2008
HERITAGE CHRISTIAN HOLDS
OFF CASS FOR FIRST STATE TITLE
Heritage Christian’s defense
came up big late in the game to hold off Cass, 17-14, in the Class 2A state
championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Heritage Christian (14-1) held off a
late scoring attempt when the Kings got the ball back on their own 26 yard line
with 3:26 remaining. The Eagles’
defense sacked Cass junior quarterback Damon Foreman three times in the last
drive to force a turnover on downs and preserve the win.
It was the first football state
championship for the Eagles after a state runner-up finish a year ago. Cass
(13-2) was making its first appearance in a state championship game.
Quarterback Jackson Kirtley connected on 18 of his 27 passes for 218 yards and
two third quarter touchdowns for Heritage Christian. Trailing 7-3 at the break,
he connected with Austin Olvey on an eight yard
strike to give the Eagles a 10-7 lead on their first possession of the second
half and followed up on the next drive with a 10 yard pass to Morgan Cook for a
17-7 lead.
Cass pulled within 17-14 with 4:39
to go in the game when Foreman found Kyle Moore for a 21 yard touchdown ending
a seven play, 80 yard drive that took only 1:30.
Heritage Christian took a 3-0 first
quarter lead on Alex Butterworth’s 36 yard field goal. Cass got on the
board with 8:22 to go before halftime when Colton Zeck
scored from three yards away.
Seventh year coach Ron Qualls was in
charge of Heritage Christian while Cass was led by 23rd-year coach Scott
Mannering.
BRADY
TOLLE OF CASS NAMED PHIL N. ESKEW MENTAL ATTITUDE AWARD WINNER
Following
the game, the IHSAA Executive Committee named Brady Tolle
of Cass as the winner of the Phil N. Eskew Mental
Attitude Award in Class 2A football.
Tolle
played on both sides of the line for the Kings, at guard and defensive
end. Brady was named to the Mid-Indiana
All Conference Team as a defensive end and led the team in sacks and tackles
for loss. He is also a four year letter
winner for the Kings’ wrestling team, and was a sectional champion and
semi-state qualifier in the 215 lb. weight class in 2008.
Tolle is
a member of National Honor Society and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He
also works with the Special Olympics program and volunteers at the Walton Food
Pantry. He was a recipient of the Mary
Todd Citizenship Award and was nominated for the Young Leaders of America
Award.
Academically,
Tolle ranks ninth in his class with a 3.6 GPA on a
4.0 scale. He is undecided on his college choice but plans to pursue a career
in the medical field.
The award
is presented annually to a senior participant in the state finals who was nominated
by his principal and coach and has demonstrated excellence in mental attitude,
scholarship, leadership and athletic ability. It is named in honor of the IHSAA’s third commissioner who served the association
from 1962-76 and who helped initiate the state tournament in 1973.
He is the
son of Mark and Tammy Tolle of
Indiana
Farm Bureau Insurance, the IHSAA’s corporate
partner, presented a $1,000 scholarship to
Class 2A Game Quotes
Heritage Christian Head Coach Ron
Qualls
“Given
the size Lewis Cass puts on the field -- their line outweighs us 65 pounds a
man -- our speed had to do it for us tonight.
Last year’s game was a speed game against (Fort Wayne Bishop) Luers, but Cass has size and is so physical. We knew
we’d have to play with discipline, and that’s one thing our guys
have, is self-discipline. Couple that
with some speed, we played pretty well.”
“We
talk a lot about perseverance and endurance and running that race and keeping
the hope. You’ll notice today in
the second half it was 17-7, 17-14, and if they hit a deep pass, they beat
us. Some teams would tighten up, but our
kids had no part of that. It’s
exciting to see our guys’ hearts grow during a game.”
“To
think we’re indoors, on turf, playing a state championship game is
unbelievable. At our place, we had a
little practice patch when we started seven years ago that wasn’t wide
enough to even practice on. To be
standing here as champions is truly
indescribable.”
Cass Head Coach Scott Mannering
“When
we needed to stop them, they executed the two scores in the second half-and
those were killers. We matched one of
their scores, but we couldn’t get much rhythm going. We thought they whipped us in the first three
to four minutes in the second half.
Frankly, we haven’t run into a team that has played that strong
against us.”
“I’m
proud of the way we played, we got beat by an
outstanding football team. They took it
to us. Their defense was
outstanding. They covered our pass routes
and they made up ground on our misdirection plays that weren’t that good
against them. Everybody talks about
their spread offense, but defensively they are a very good football
team.”
“In
the first half, I thought we played defensively real well. I don’t know if we could have played any
better. I’m disappointed that we
didn’t play better offensively.
Right now I think the better team won tonight. But our kids didn’t leave anything on
the field.”
“We
got better every week and as a coach, that’s one of the most satisfying
things. We played our best football in
the tournament.”
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