FOOTBALL: Reitz Ends Red Devil Quest

INDIANAPOLIS –  Northwest Indiana will have to wait till next year for a high school state champion in football. As the lone representative from the region, the Lowell Red Devils couldn’t get the job done on Saturday at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis losing to Evansville Reitz 33-14.

The Class 4A Red Devils failed in trying to end their season with the ultimate achievement in high school football, a state championship. Lowell looking for their second championship in three years was no stranger to the big game, however it was the Panthers from Evansville Reitz high school that came into Saturday’s game looking for their first ever football state championship. The Red Devils started off in the hole from the get go, as the Panthers marched sixty-one yards in eleven plays on their opening drive to take the lead 7-0.

    
The hole then got deeper as the Panthers scored on their second possession going eighty yard in just  fourteen plays to make the score 14-0.  Reitz’s one man wrecking machine Paul McIntosh was just that, as he racked up 155 yards on 24 carries scoring three touch downs to give the Panthers their first state championship.  Lowell however would show why they belonged here as they scored on a 77 yard pass from Eric Roadruck to T.J. Lukasik to get on the board in the second quarter.  The Red Devils would put up one more score in the third quarter on a pass from Monix to Lukasik from six yards out.  When asked about Reitz’s effort today coach Kennedy replied, “They definitely came to play today. We picked up our effort in the second half, but they are the obviously state champions.”  Lowell finished the season 14-2 while Reitz ended the season a perfect 15-0.