EARTHQUAKE ON ROUTE 2

Lowell 28, Hobart 25 / Class 4A Regional
November 11, 1994
Written By Brian Waddle
RSN Correspondent

Some might call it a human earthquake.

Kirk Kennedy won’t ever forget it. Even 30 years later.

“I remember the game film was taken from up top of the press box and on Saturday morning, we’re doing film and when (Lowell running back Mike) Pickett broke off that initial run (an 80-yarder for a touchdown on the first play of game) that camera was shaking so bad because the bleachers were pushed to their limits – and probably then some,” recalled the former Red Devil coach.

“Even the people inside the press box had commented later that they thought the thing was going to collapse. All those fans probably had the same mentality as the team did. They were going nuts. You still hear stories of people saying how crazy that atmosphere was.”

In that Class 4A regional championship slugfest on November 11, 1994, which Lowell held on for dear life in a 28-25 victory over perennial power Hobart, it was a back-and-forth contest the entire night. Lowell just happened to have a little more juice left in the tank to hold on to beat the defending Class 4A state champion Brickies.

It was also Lowell’s first regional championship.

“If you wanted a great movie about high school football that night would be a great topic,” Kennedy said.

And just like any epic film, Goliath wasn’t going down without a fight. Like a true champion in that contest, and after Pickett’s big run, Hobart answered with a big run about four plays later to tie the game. The Brickies actually scored last in the contest and tried an on-sides kick late, but Pickett recovered it and the Red Devils were able to run out the clock and hold on for dear life.

It’s still considered one of the Region’s greatest games.

“I think that game established ourselves as believing and winning because it was Hobart,” Kennedy said, “and I still remember my biggest concern heading into that game against a program like theirs was what was on their chest. We were just trying to establish ourselves and they were in the midst of all their championship runs. My thought was: Would we be mentally tough to get out there and believe and compete and give ourselves a chance?”

Some will say that massive victory kickstarted the Lowell program. It’s a valid point because Hobart was on the map for decades in the Region, and the Red Devils didn’t have a winning team from 1970 to 1992 and many of those games were lopsided.

The Brickies won four state championships in 1987, 89, 91, and the season before this epic showdown, in 1993. Lowell’s monumental victory in 1994 spearheaded a launch to constant success for the Red Devils for decades to come.

“I think that year we kind of put ourselves up there; it was two different programs, but I know that game really put us up there to start believing that we could compete with them and beat them,” Kennedy said.

Lowell actually had an undefeated freshman team in 1992 when Pickett and a strong class were just getting started. However, the following season the Red Devils ran up against the Brickies in the 4A regional title game and got whipped 35-7. Pickett remembers being a sophomore going up against the likes of big-bad Hobart in arguably the Region’s worst place to play when you’re an underdog – the Brickie Bowl.

“The whole situation was bigger than us – we were outmanned and we ran into a buzzsaw,” Pickett said. “I believe that helped, though, over the next two years because we eventually got it done. I even think the buildup (to the 1994 game) was we didn’t have a chance, and with that perspective it’s pretty honest, because until you win that game nobody would give you a chance.”

Pickett remembers the game well. On the first play from scrimmage he busted loose off left tackle for an 80-yard run going south toward the high school (if you can picture it in your mind). The Inferno erupted. And yes, much like the stories that are still talked about today in the local watering holes, the place was electric.

And much like what Kennedy said, the press box probably almost came down that November evening. This was way before the renovation project at Lowell when writers and broadcasters would be fighting for space and working elbow to elbow in the old Lowell press box.

“There’s no way our field ever saw that many people in the stands and piled around the fence,” said Pickett, who ran for two touchdowns in that ’94 victory. “It was a huge night for us, our program, our fans, and our community. To beat Hobart like that was incredible. It really was a special night.”

Pickett, who ended up being named the Times Player of the Year following that ’94 season, rushed for 2,256 yards and 35 TDs that fall. He was Lowell’s all-time leading rusher with 4,198 yards in three seasons. Ironically, after college Pickett ended up moving to Hobart and coaching there for several years until his boys, Alex and Max, started getting busy with sports. To add more to the rivalry, Max is a star running back entering his junior season with the Brickies.

“Being at Hobart now, people – when I first came here – would bring that game up and talk about it,” Pickett said. “It’s one of those things that has stuck and when I’d meet people in town that was one of the first things they’d say, and it was 15 or more years after that game.”

That game, even still in the aura of Region football nostalgia, was one that most Lowell players will tell you turned the tide and put Lowell on a track to greatness. The program only had two losing seasons over the next 17 years and advanced to state three times, topped by a 4A state championship in 2005.

“Once you win a game like that (in 1994) and climbing the ladder, it makes things possible,” Kennedy said. “I definitely think winning that game put us at another level and set us on a different trajectory to where we wanted to be.”

Kennedy said the players on that 1994 team got used to winning when they started high school and had confidence to win that game.

“I still remember the way they went out to the game that night, they certainly weren’t intimidated,” Kennedy recalled. “I think you’d have to say looking at that game Hobart had the psychological edge because they had been there and done that. So, you have to give credit to our kids who were able to overcome that and believe because Hobart was Hobart and a contender back then every year.”

Lowell’s last score came when Mike Loggins caught a touchdown pass – something the run first (and run last) Red Devils pulled out of their back pocket.

“We weren’t known for any passing; I don’t think Hobart was worried about it,” said Jim Carlson, Lowell’s offensive coordinator at the time. “We might have caught them off-guard with that late play-action pass.”

That 1994 Lowell team had a ton of talent and a lot of leaders. It’s still known to this day as the team with “the four Mikes” – Mike Pickett, Mike Loggins, Mike Krapf, and Mike Peterson – as the four senior captains.

Peterson said many talented teammates on the squad were keys to the big victory from defensive back Brett Blackmon, to linebacker Derek Thompson, to defensive end John Oostman. He also gave a tip of the hat to defensive coordinator Brad Stewart for the preparation and effective game plan.

“We studied them and if you remember they had an offense where they’d hide the ball and hand it off low, so that was the hardest part of trying to defend them because their run game was so confusing,” said Peterson, a senior safety at the time, and ironically, now a Hobart resident. “It was such a tough offense to defend because they had so many options.”

Peterson recalls all the businesses in town being loud and proud of their Red Devils. From Dairy Queen to Mi Ranchito to Tri Creek Lumber, they all had signs up supporting the team. RDP (Red Devil Pride) had not developed yet, but the entire town was backing the team.

“It was a great night to live in Lowell and to be a football fan,” Peterson said.

Peterson, who spent the night in the emergency room after the Hobart win with a concussion, remembers Lowell bringing in more bleachers for that game and the “busses just kept coming,” he said. “It was such a crazy atmosphere. You had Don Howell and Tom Kerr – true legends – walking the field. It was so surreal.

“We were undefeated our eighth grade and freshman years, but we knew beating Hobart – if you wanted to be the top dog, if you wanted to be a program – you had to beat Hobart at some point.”

The bottom line is it was Hobart. The Brickies were the best in the Region, the program known throughout the state. When you talked Northwest Indiana football, Hobart was at the top of the pigskin conversations.

And, going into that 1994 regional championship game, the Lowell coaching staff was worried about all of that “Hobart” stuff going through the minds of 16, 17, and 18 year olds.

“We talked about it and we were concerned,” said Carlson, who is currently the wide receivers coach at Lowell. “They had the 19 or something straight sectional titles and did so many things that made them the class of the Region; that was the program you needed to learn from.

“We knew at Lowell we needed to find out what they do to take that path because those were the boys who had it going in our Region.”