THIS DAY IN REGION FOOTBALL HISTORY: 9/21

1929 – The Hobart Brickies open up their third season of football with a 36-0 home shutout of Valpo. These were the years before Brickie Bowl. Does anyone know where in Hobart this game would have been played?

1945 – Hobart and Lowell battle it out in a black and blue slugfest that ends in a scoreless tie.

1951 – Art Rolfe and his Emerson Golden Tornadoes get the better of Lew Wallace 18-6 at old Gleason Field on the campus of US Steel Gary Works.

1962 – Hammond High moves to 3-0 after a 32-7 Wildcat win. Bernie Krueger’s club goes on to defeat all 10 opponents in ’62 – their second 10-0 mark in three years and third undefeated season since 1958. The Wildcats were also voted mythical state champs for the second time since 1960.

1962 – The Lowell Red Devils take the long trip up the recently created Interstate 65 to the sand dunes in the Miller section of Gary where they battle the Wirt Troopers. When it’s all said and done, Walt Nabhan’s Troopers post a 12-0 shutout victory.

1973 – Munster goes to Merrillville where they fall to the Dick Demarree and his Pirates in a close one 13-6. The Pirates went 9-1 that season, marking the fifth time under Demarree the Purple Gang had won at least nine games in a 10 game season.

1973 – John Quinn keeps his Gavit Gladiators undefeated with a six to nothing home shutout over a pretty good EC Roosevelt team. It’s one of five times the Glads held their opponent scoreless, as they won their first 10 games of the season – and became the first school from northwest Indiana to play in the state football tournament.

1984 – Les Thornton and the Griffith Panthers travel to Miller Beach to play Don Rogers and his Wirt Troopers, in a get together of former Calumet Conference foes. In a game similar to many these two have played in the past, only six points were scored on the night, and all of them by Griffith. The final from Trooper Field: Griffith 6 / Wirt 0.

1990 – Rick Wimmer and his Merrillville Pirates go to Viking Field where they crush Valpo 44-14.

2001 – The Griffith Panthers go down to the Inferno for a week six prime time cable TV matchup against Lowell. Panther ball carriers Matt Gonzalez, Derrick Duffy and David Martin spent much of the night gaining big yards behind the blocking of senior center Nathan Laird. The future RSN Sports Director opened up gaping holes that the trio was able to run through, sometimes untouched, as Russ Radtke and his team pounded the rival Red Devils in front of their home fans by a score of 42-3.

2007 – Zac Wells and his purple Pirates go 12-2 with the only regular season loss coming being a 2017 overtime thriller at Crown Point in week three.

2013 – The Cougars of Gary West Side welcome Hammond High in for Saturday afternoon matinee, in which they beat Wildcats 58-18. The 40 point differential is one of the largest margins of victory in West Side history.