“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.”