Thunderbirds will go to Lucas Oil

INDIANAPOLIS – Eastern turned a late fumble into the game-winning touchdown Friday night to earn a trip to Lucas Oil Stadium.

One week after winning the first regional in school history, Eastern defeated host Indianapolis Lutheran 12-8 to win its first semistate. The unbeaten Thunderbirds will take on Pioneer (14-0) at noon, Friday, at Lucas Oil in the school’s first trip to the state final.

The Saints (11-3) had driven to a third and 4 on the Thunderbird 16 with 6:03 on the clock. They fumbled the ball and Blayne Campbell dove on it at the 22 for his second fumble recovery of the night.

The Thunderbirds then marched down the field on the feet of quarterback Caleb Hamilton. He darted for 17 yards. Four punches gained 12 yards and Eastern had a first and 10 on the Saints 41.

Hamilton then broke to his right and rambled 32 yards for another first down on the Lutheran 9. He carried for 4; then Hamilton dragged a tackler into the end zone with him as he plunged for 5 yards and the winning TD with only 2:17 on the clock.

Hamilton said his teammates believed in him, and “I refused to lose at that point.

“As a team we knew we weren’t going to be stopped. I knew the ball was going to me. I had guys tell me: ‘Run behind me.’ It was great knowing you had guys believing in you 100 percent.”

A talented Lutheran team refused to say die. Even though he was injured and had trouble running, senior quarterback Andre Jones guided the team down the field . He completed short passes to Bailly Barham, Marcus McFadden, and Maxwell Wirick to move the team to a first down on the Eastern 48.

Then: incompletion, Jones found McFadden for 6, incompletion, run up the gut, but the Thunderbirds contained it for a 1-yard gain and took over on downs.

Hamilton took a knee and , and the boys from Eastern were headed to Lucas Oil, home of the hapless Colts.

Immediately after the game, Eastern head coach Joey Paridaen called over the team’s captains to give them the metal strip that symbolizes a semistate win. Then he gave a brief talk to his team:

“When we set out in the summertime,” he told his jubilant players, “probably the only people who believed this was going to happen were the people sitting right here.”

He invited his team to eat Thanksgiving ham and turkey with him and told them :”This is awesome.”

The first quarter proved to be a scoreless tie as two brutal defenses kept the other team out of the end zone. Campbell got his first fumble recovery to stop one drive. Jackson Rogers ended Lutheran’s first drive with an interception on the Eastern 15. His fifth pick of the year set a new Eastern record for career interceptions.

A penalty stifled a promising Eastern drive near the end of the period, and the Thunderbirds were forced to punt.

Barham ripped off runs of 10 and 16 yards as the Saints moved from their 45 to a first down on the Eastern 23. The T-Birds dropped Jaden Elliott for a 2-yard loss and Jones overthrew a wide-open Austin Bryant in the end zone. However, he zipped a pass to Trevor Russell on the 3 and he dived into the end zone.

The Saints lined up for a kick, but Jones flipped a shovel pass to Barham and he went in for the two-point conversion.

The T-Birds appeared headed for the end zone when Hamilton found Joel Weimer for a 38-yard completion to the Saints 35. A 7-yard completion to Jaden Evans helped the T-Birds move to first and 10 on the Lutheran 24. Four plays could net only 2 yards, and Lutheran began operations on its 22.

Gains of 12 and 14 negated a penalty for holding and give the Saints a first down on their 42. Jones lofted a pass to McFadden and he ran to the Eastern 20.

Three incompletions later, the third coming when Hamilton knocked Barham into the middle of next week, and Lutheran had fourth and 10 with 46 seconds on the clock.

The game was delayed at that point because all of the lights went out, prompting somebody on the sideline to remark: “Guess somebody didn’t pay the bill.”

Coaches and players of both teams ventured out onto the field by light of their telephones and huddled. Fans from both schools flashed their lights in the stands, making the crowd seem to be rock fans demanding an encore. The lights stayed off for about 32 minutes, and the fans raised one of the biggest cheers of the night when they came back on.

Jones threw another incompletion and Eastern took over. The Thunderbirds picked up a couple of first downs, but couldn’t put the pigskin in the end zone.

That didn’t matter much as they took the third-quarter kickoff (the coaches and officials agreed to skip halftime and go straight into the third quarter) and reeled off an 11-play, 58-yard drive.

Joel Weimer returned the kickoff about 22 yards to the Eastern 42. Five carries for 22 yards by Hamilton gave Eastern a first down on the Lutheran 36. After a false start on third and 9 moved the ball back, Hamilton dropped back to pass, ran up the middle and bulldozed his way for 24 yards.

A bad snap caused the Thunderbirds to lose 4 yards and Hamilton missed Jaden Evans up the middle. Hamilton dropped back again, then ran up the middle and took the ball home for a 16-yard touchdown run. The pass failed on the two-point conversion attempt.

The teams traded punts, then Campbell’s second fumble of the night set the stage for Eastern’s first and only lead. It was enough.

“The play before, I told them we had to get something and get things going,” Campbell said. “I saw the ball rolling on the field. I just ended up with the ball somehow. It was the craziest thing.”

We will publish a more complete game story on line and include the statistics. We apologize for not giving our readers more information, but we don’t pay Lutheran’s electric bills.

Eastern 0 0 6 6 – 12

I. Lutheran 8 0 0 0 – 8

Second Quarter

IL – Russell 25 pass from Jones (Barham pass from Jones), 8:35.

Third Quarter

E – Hamilton 16 run (pass failed), 6:15.

Fourth Quarter

E – Hamilton 5 run (run failed), 2:17.