The Herald from Jasper, Indiana • 42

THE HERALD THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2004 PAGE 42 SPORTS Series with Lincoln leaves Pats excited By JASON RECKER Herald Sports Writer ly In its distinguished football history, Heritage Hills has stomped through much of its regular-sea ly ranked second in Class 3A, and Alices wanted. "To us, this just made sense," said Jay Burch, athletics director at Heritage Hills. "They're a son scneauie without much anxiety. The Nichols Boonville with Jasper and Lincoln. Clayton sees the additions as fuel to subdue the argument that the Pats play a weak regular-season schedule when compared with that of sectional opponents Evansville Mater Dei and Evansville Memorial.

"All we hear about is how Mater Dei and Memorial play those 5A schools," Clayton said. "And you have to give them credit for that. But we feel like Jasper and Vincennes Lincoln have more kids to chose from, have size and have speed that we may not see in (the Pocket Athletic Conference). We certainly hope this will help in the postseason." It could also give the Pats a new rival. For now, the game is marked more by respect than bitterness.

Lincoln coach Mike Hidde complimented the Pats on their fundamentals and skills Friday. Clayton was impressed with the Alices' class after the game. Both coaches hope Friday was the beginning of a healthy, lengthy relationship. "There's nothing to indicate we shouldn't play them," Clayton said. "We'll just have to be able to compete in the first game against a good opponent." ing four shutouts.

The Pats replaced Boonville with Mount Vernon (Fortville) last season in a last-minute, one-year deal and thumped the Marauders 56-6. Things weren't so easy for either team Friday Heritage Hills slipped out of In-man Field with a 17-6 victory, the Pats' most worrisome season opener since a 10-point victory over Boonville in 1997. "Most years, we'll really struggle to beat them," Clayton said. "But I think (the series) can be a positive. It gives us a great look at what we need to work on and it sure did that Friday night.

They're big and strong." The Pats went into the game unsure what to expect from Lincoln, only positive the Alices would be big, strong and talented the usual for a Class 4A school with an enrollment of nearly 1,000. Heritage Hills, a 3A school with enrollment of about 750, now plays a pair of Class 4A powers in Jasper and Lincoln. Since 2001, when the Pats added Jasper to their schedule, Heritage Hills has increased the degree of difficulty on its nonconference schedule by replacing Wood Memorial (2-10 all-time against the Pats) and Pats haven't lost a regular-season contest since 1998, a string of 51 games, and have watched just six teams come within 20 points during that stretch. The Patriots are rarely tested before sectional. Friday, that began to change.

Heritage Hills met Vincennes Lincoln, a program without a losing season since 1987, for the first time. The matchup between programs that share similarities in ability, execution and respect had the Pats feeling a combination of emotions. "It's exciting and a it's a little scary, because you don't know what's going to happen," said Heritage Hills junior running back Jacob Nichols. Heritage Hills coach Bob Clayton went as far as saying he wouldn't have been surprised if the Pats would have lost. But that kind of test is just what the Pats, current good program and our fans want to see a good game." Friday marked the first of four scheduled games between the new enemies.

The four-year contract consists of Friday's game at In-man Field in Vincennes, games in 2005 and 2006 in Lincoln City and a 2007 meeting back in Vincennes. The series became possible when opponents of Heritage Hills and Lincoln grew tired of being the annual season-opening whipping boy Evansville Central dropped Lincoln last season after beating the Alices just twice in the last seven meetings (Central has since picked up Southridge for its season opener). Boonville dropped Heritage Hills in 2002 after suffering six consecutive losses, includ Ruling leaves girls sidelined By The Associated Press SEYMOUR Two girls have been barred from managing their junior high school boys football team because officials worry about both sexes mingling on the team bus. The girls say they might appeal to the state Board of Education to be reinstated. Eighth-graders Tori Meneely and Kimberly Lara managed the Seymour Middle School football and basketball teams last season.

But this year, school officials refused to allow them to help with the football team. The girls and Tori's mother, Tereca Schryer, a former Seymour High School football team manager, appealed for reinstatement to the Seymour School Board Tuesday in the city about 40 miles southeast of Bloomington. Board member Pat Kelley said there would not be enough supervision on a team bus with girls and boys. "There are problems with boys and girls on a bus together," Kelley said. The girls said they sit three seats away from the players and have never had a problem.

Schryer offered to chaperone the girls. The board deferred the decision to middle school Principal Barbara Bergdoll. "With incidents that happen between students at other schools, I feel like it's a proactive decision," Bergdoll said. "From now on, we will have girl managers for girls sports and boy managers for boy sports." The girls argued that the ban was a violation of Title LX, which bars sex discrimination in schools. The girls were not physically participating on the football field, Seymour Schools Superintendent Robert Schmeilau, so sports managers do not have the same rights as players.

The girls were responsible for getting water for players, transporting equipment bags, setting up tackle pads at practices and sorting uniforms. The girls said they still plan to manage the basketball team, unless the school prohibits it. Year after year, Giants finish with big season By STEVE HERMAN AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS Like a colossus, Ben Davis stands astride Indiana high school football. Its foundation is built on hard work and over the place," he said. Allen, an All-State player at New Castle, was a head coach in Florida and became Dullaghan's defensive coordinator in 1998.

Ben Davis assistants Steve Purichia and Mike Kirschner also are former head coaches. Kevin Vanderbush is the strength coach. That's all he does. "I have the luxury of spending all my time focused on making athletes better," he said. By not having coaching responsibilities outside of the strength and conditioning, Vanderbush said he can help athletes with sports psychology such as leadership and mental toughness.

Part of the program involves putting all players in a weight training class, which allows them to lift during the day without having to use time before school, after school or during practice. Allen says that's a big advantage. "Our kids improve from sophomore to senior year like no place I've ever seen," he said. school in the state. Dullaghan, who won his first championship at Carmel, had a coaching and support staff of 30 people and was given free rein by the Ben Davis administration.

"I had a vision of what a really good program ought to look like," he said. "When I went away and coached four years of college football, I got a lot of really good ideas, organizational ideas." After leaving Carmel in 1979, Dullaghan was an assistant at Purdue and Army. He came to Ben Davis in 1984, and one of his key moves was to hire a full-time strength coach still almost unheard of at the high school level. Later, he put a 40-foot observation tower on the school's practice field, where every workout and scrimmage could be taped for immediate critique. He also said the program hired top-quality coaches and teachers who were accomplished former head coaches.

"I was allowed to hire the kind of people you just can't find all every year. "So if you do not, then what's wrong?" So far, nothing. Ranked second in Class 5A, the Giants gave Allen a 19-0 victory over Indianapolis Cathedral in his debut last week. This week, Ben Davis plays No. 4 Penn, the 5A runner-up last year, another perennial powerhouse from the north and one of the Giants' biggest rivals.

Next week, Ben Davis plays No. 1-ranked and defending champion Warren Central, which beat the Giants in the tourney regional a year ago. It's a killer schedule, but that's nothing new. "If you think of Indiana football in the last 10 or 15 years, Ben Davis has to come to mind," said Doug Huff, longtime national prep sports writer and editor of Student Sports magazine. "We always looked to them as a team to watch.

"Their reputation is pretty solid, and I think Dick left a pretty good legacy there," Huff said. With 3,600 students in three grades, Ben Davis is the largest meticulous preparation. Pride and tradition are its granite garlands. Year after year, the westside Indianapolis school produces one of the elite football programs in the state and nation, and in the two decades Dick Dullaghan was coach, Ben Davis more often than not either won a championship or lost in the tournament to the team that did win. "I had many people tell me, 'You'd be a fool to follow a said new coach Tom Allen, who was entrusted with the Giants' future when Dullaghan retired after his record eighth state title last season.

"Is there pressure? Absolutely. Coach developed the expectation you're contending for a state championship Mount Vernon 0-0 1-0 30 7 Mount Carmel (HI.) 00 00 0 0 20 45. 0 33 6 17 20 56 rushing and 139 passing). Pats Heritage Hills hasn't lost to Tell City since 1992. Jacob McGrew QB) fired for 65 yards in his first ever start at quarterback and is expected to start again as Bryce Pund QB) nurses an injured hamstring.

The Pats have won 51 consecutive regular season games, the longest current streak in the state; in those 51 games, only six teams have come within 20 points of Heritage Hills. Area leaders Jasper 0O 0-1 Princeton 0-0 01 Vincennes Lincoln 00 Ol Washington 00 Ol Friday's games Jasper at Southridge Mount Carmel (III.) at Harrisburg (III.) Mount Vernon at North Posey Pike Central at Washington Princeton at Evansville Bosse Vincennes Lincoln at Boonville Last week's results Evansville Memorial 45, Jasper 20 Heritage Hills 17, Vincennes Lincoln 6 Boonville 56, Washington 20 Mount Vernon 30, Tell City 7 South Spencer 33, Princeton 0 POCKET ATHLETIC CONF ALL Gibson Southern 10 lO Heritage Hills 00 1-0 Pike Central 00 lO Cats vs. Raiders Records: Jasper (0-1) at Southridge (l-O) Time: 7 p.m. Friday, Raider Field Series: Cats lead 284, including 48-12 victory last season Last week: Cats lost 45-20 at Evansville Memorial. Raiders beat Paoli 57-0.

Players to watch: Cats The entire defense. Jasper will try to recover after giving up 45 points, more than any team in Wildcat history, last week against Memorial. The Cats will face a Raider offense that racked up 57 points and 624 yards in its opener. Raiders The entire defense. Southridge will try to corral a Jasper running attack that piled up 327 yards and seven touchdowns in last year's clash of county rivals.

Team tidbits: Cats Since losing to Southridge in 1998 and 1999, Jasper has won the last four meetings, outscoring the Raiders 126-39. Jasper has opened the season 0-2 just five times in program history (1953, 1959, 1983, 1998 and 1999). Luke Schmidt RB) ran for 170 yards and six touchdowns in the first half against Southridge last season, tying the school's single-game record for TDs. Raiders Southridge has opened the season 2-0 just four times in school history (1975, 1983, 1998, 1999). Just one of Southridge's three victories against Jasper has come at home (1998).

Twelve Raiders ran the football last Friday, four caught a pass and two completed a pass as Southridge averaged 15.2 yards every time it snapped the ball. Kord O'Brien RB) racked up 292 total yards last Friday, nearly doubling the 155 yards Paoli managed. Marksmen vs. Pats Records: Tell City (0-1) at Class 3A No. 2 Heritage Hills (1-0) Time: 7 p.m., Friday, Patriot Field Series: Pats lead 15-8, including 34-0 victory last season.

Last week: Marksmen lost 30-7 to Mount Vernon. Pats won at Class 4A No. 6 Vincennes Lincoln 17-6. Players to watch: Marksmen Jared Foury RB) led Tell City last week with 55 yards rushing (on 21 carries) and scored the team's lone TD as the Marksmen averaged just 3.3 yards per carry. Pats Brandon Prior DB) is part of a defensive backfieid that allowed 119 passing yards and didn't thrill coach Bob Clayton last Friday.

Team tidbits: Marksmen Tell City hasn't scored a touchdown against Heritage Hills since 2001 and hasn't limited the Pats to fewer than 34 points since 1996. The Marksmen scored on their first drive last Friday but managed just 51 yards the rest of the game. Mount Vernon blasted the Tell City defense for 401 yards (262 PF PA 12 7 17 6 18 6 RUSHING ATT Luke Schmidt (J) 26 Kord O'Brien (S) 9 Jacob Nichols (HH) 21 Calvin Bueltel (S) 3 Tyler Sibrel (S) 3 Kyle James (HH) 8 PASSING COMP An Craig Seib(S) 5 6 Jacob McGrew (HH) 6 8 Luke T. Mehringer (J) 5 12 RECEIVING REC Ryan Schwinghamer (S) 3 Kord O'Brien (S) 2 Sam Unette (J) 2 Nathan Sermersheim (J) 2 Seth Johannemann (HH) 2 YDS AVG TD 211 8.1 2 209 22.9 2 148 7.0 2 82 27.3 1 51 17.0 0 40 5.0 0 YDS INT TD 201 0 3 65 0 0 51 2 0 YDS AVG TD 46 15.3 1 83 41.5 1 10 9.5 0 14 7.0 0 13 6.5 0 South Spencer 00 1-0 33 0 Southridge 00 1-0 57 0 North Posey 00 01 6 27 Tell City 00 01 7 30 Tecumseh 01 01 7 12 Friday's games Jasper at Southridge Tell City at Heritage Hills Gibson Southern at South Spencer Mount Vernon at North Posey Pike Central at Washington Tecumseh at Wood Memorial Last week's results Southridge 57, Paoli 0 Heritage Hills 17, Vincennes Lincoln 6 Pike Central 18, North Knox 6 Gibson Southern 12, Tecumseh 7 Mount Vernon 30, Tell City 7 South Spencer 33, Princeton 0 Conference standings BIG EIGHT Boonville C0NF ALL lO PF PA 56 20.