Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 1984, Page 15

Description:	Total Commitment brings victoryWith surges of enthusiasm, throngs ofpeople, tough opponents, and mentalups and downs, the 1983 football Panthers battled their way to the playoffs forthe first time in 10 years.Total Commitment was the themefor the South team; and according tohead coach Dave Enright, the kids carried it out well. He said, The team didall the necessary things to make for totalcommitment, going above and beyondthe call of duty to make themselveschampions.Enright led the Panthers to a 12-1record and achieved six of the eight teamgoals he had set. The goals met were city,county, cluster, conference, sectional,and regional victories.After a 10-0 undefeated season, Southcontinued to the playoff rounds. ThoughEnright never set a team goal of goingundefeated, he said it was a great accomplishment ... to be treasured.Souths first playoff game was againstColumbus East Oct. 28. The 12-9 winover Columbus was a landmark game forthe Panthers. It was the first playoff gamein which they had played since a 1973loss to Indianapolis Cathedral in the firstyear of football playoffs; that loss endedthe streak.The streak was a 60-game winningstreak. The win over Columbus was alsothe first time South had won 11 games ina row since the streak.In their next playoff game and on theirway to gaining the regional title, the Panthers had a chance to break someoneelses streak. The 25-0 streak belongedto the Knights of Castle High School,located near Paradise, Ind.Going into the Castle game Nov. 4,South students had conflicting views.Some put blind faith in their Panther teamwhile others weighed the facts and looked realistically at the situation.Realistically, they wondered at Southschances against a Castle team ranked12th in the nation whose seniors hadnever lost a game since they began playing in middle school.According to Enright, South had toovercome many obstacles before evenbeginning to play the game. He said whenthe players arrived, they had to walkthrough the Castle crowd to get to thelocker room; and it was a bizarre, rushedatmosphere. With no time for a lockerroom chalk talk, the team had only fiveminutes to warm up on the field.Once the game began, it was close.South led at halftime, but after halftimethe two teams both fought hard, and thelead was switched in Castles favor. With1:48 left in the game, South scored atouchdown; and many fans thought it wasa victory. The Knights, however, wouldnot give up. With fewer than 10 secondsleft, they kicked a field goal that put themin the lead.But South was not ready to give upeither. With two seconds left on the clockand over-zealous Castle fans alreadyflooding the field, the Panthers had hopesfor a runback on the kickoff in a play dubbed the California-Stanford play, doneonly once the previous year in theCalifornia-Stanford game.When the ball was kicked off, it wascaught by senior Mark Brauner, who wasimmediately attacked by Castle players.On his way to the ground, Brauner lateral-ed the ball to sophomore Brad Jackson,who ran the length of the field, dodgingCastle fans to make a touchdown with notime left on the clock.With both sectional and regional titlesunder their belt, the Panthers loaded thebuses and headed to Washington HighSchool in Indianapolis Nov. 11. The Panthers played a game that ended in a loss.Enright said South came within eightdays of a state championship and theteam wasnt ready to take their pads off.He said the Panthers finished with mixed emotions—so proud of what theydaccomplished yet being just a threadfrom the state championship. Thoughthe season ending wasnt as he hoped,Enright said no one would ever forget onecold night that rendered a miracle inParadise.RIGHT: Senior Paula DeBoer and Edgewood student Wendy Anderson bundle up to keep warm atthe Indianapolis Washington game whentemperatures got down into the 20s.Playoffs 15
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/1736
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

Further information on this record can be found at its source.