Insider: What we learned from Indiana high school football state finals weekend

The 2023 high school football season is in the books. We’ll have plenty more coverage to come, including the postseason Super Team, IndyStar Mr. Football, presented by the Indianapolis Colts, and much more. But for one last time this season, what we learned from state finals weekend:

A well-earned championship and a fitting finish for Vanderbush

For all of Ben Davis’ wild and crazy finishes during its tournament run, the fourth quarter of the Giants’ 38-10 win Saturday night over Crown Point was … a little boring.

Not in a bad way, necessarily. Ben Davis coach Russ Mann was able to allow his starters and seniors to soak up the moment, even calling timeout to allow Ben Davis senior linebacker Nylan Brown to come out of the game to applause from the Giants’ crowd.

“He’s more mature than me,” Mann said with a laugh. “(Ben Davis assistant Russ Sumner) and I were talking to the one ref close to us when we called timeout to pull him off and said we were sorry we had to (stop the clock). He said all the referees were talking about how special he was.”

Ben Davis (13-1) lost only to IMG Academy (Fla.), which is ranked No. 5 in the country in the High School Football America national rankings (Ben Davis was No. 23 going into the weekend). But the road to a title was memorable, littered with moments along the way that could have changed the course of history and resulted in a different 6A champion. A few of those:

∎ Brownsburg led Ben Davis 25-7 in the first round of the sectional after Garrett Sherrell’s 45-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter. The first three quarters were reminiscent of Brownsburg’s 48-20 win over Ben Davis in last year’s sectional. Thomas Gotkowski weaved around and through the Brownsburg defense to pull the Giants within 25-14 with 9:31 left. A Mark Zackery pick-six followed, then a game-clinching drive and a 16-yard touchdown run by Gotkowski with 2:07 left.

“I hate to say this, but I think we needed that,” Gotkowski said Saturday night, thinking back to the Brownsburg game. “We needed that push back to push us forward.”

∎ Two weeks later in the regional at the University of Indianapolis, Ben Davis ran into a resilient Cathedral team that would not go away. Ben Rudolph’s clutch 40-yard field goal put Ben Davis on top 27-24 with 2:38 remaining, but Cathedral quarterback Danny O’Neil, knocked around all game by the Ben Davis’ defense, managed to drive the Irish to the Ben Davis’ 29 before Alvin Contreras ended the threat with an interception in the end zone with 21 seconds left.

∎ Finally, the semistate showdown with three-time defending 6A champion Center Grove. In reality, it was the state championship. Ben Davis dominated the third quarter, taking a 28-10 lead when Gotkowski hit Zane Skibinski for a 46-yard touchdown pass. Then, the Center Grove flurry. Tyler Cherry, who passed for 405 yards, found good buddy Noah Coy for a 30-yard touchdown pass up the left sideline to put the Trojans ahead 31-28 with 2:58 left. It looked like the Brownsburg game in reverse. Then: a 44-yard pass from Gotkowski to Zackery; a fortunate fumble recovery by lineman Kenneth Guinhouya, the only Ben Davis player in the middle of four Center Grove defenders; and an incredible play by Skibinski, the field-goal holder, to place the ball for Rudolph to the game on a 20-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining. Ben Davis won it, 37-34 in overtime, on Gotkowski’s pass to Nate Williams.

Incredible stuff. Think about the players and teams Ben Davis beat those three weeks: Sherrell and Brownsburg, ranked No. 1 and undefeated (No. 66 in the country); O’Neil and Cathedral, ranked No. 208 in the country); and Cherry, Coy and three-time defending champion Center Grove (ranked No. 26 in the country).

It explains why there was no panic, no overwhelming concern when the Giants led Crown Point just 10-3 at halftime. Kevin Vanderbush, the strength and conditioning coach at Ben Davis for 40 years, was on the sideline for the final time Saturday night (his 496^th game, he said). As usual, he addressed the team at halftime.

“What I let them know is that they hadn’t played their best football yet,” Vanderbush said. “And that it’s time to do that. ‘Come out in the second half and let’s show what Ben Davis football is all about. Show what we worked on all year and what we are capable of doing. We haven’t done it yet; this is an opportunity to do it.’”

Ben Davis left no doubt in the second half, scoring touchdowns on four consecutive possessions to win going away. Like the most-recent champions of 2014 and 2017, the 2023 team will leave a legacy of its own. So will Vanderbush, who has been there for all 10 of the Giants’ state titles going back to the first in 1987.

This was his first time wearing Jordans on the sidelines, though, fulfilling a promise he made last year if the Giants reached the state championship game.

“For me, I feel good about the 40 years I spent trying to develop high school athletes and make them better people and teach them life skills through the platform of strength and conditioning,” Vanderbush said. “The school has given me all the necessary resources to do that. I’m sure glad I took the career path that I did, and I love the school that I’ve been a part of, and it’s afforded me a lot of opportunities to make a difference in the lives of kids. I’m not sad it’s more that I’m thinking, ‘For the first time in 40 years, I’m not going to have a schedule in the summer.’ I’m ready to do some things with the grandkids and some other things. You could go on forever, but I feel like I’ve done what I was supposed to do.”

Start of something for Crown Point?

Last year, it was Carroll (Fort Wayne) that made its first state finals appearance in the Class 6A finals, losing 35-9 to Center Grove. It looked like it might be the start of something for the Chargers, who were surprisingly ousted in the first round of the sectional by Warsaw, 31-17, and finished 7-3.

As an aside, I think Carroll is still going to be a factor in the 6A north moving forward. But maybe this is the start of the something for Crown Point? Third-year coach Craig Buzea, in his 31^st season overall, is accustomed to building programs. He did it at Portage, leading that school to a 5A state finals in 1994. And he did it in Illinois, guiding Homewood-Flossmoor to a Class 8A runner-up finish in 2014. And now at Crown Point, which finished 13-1 after making its first state finals appearance.

Buzea set about building Crown Point into a faster team when he took the job. The Bulldogs are not on par with Ben Davis’ speed, but not many are. Crown Point does have the infrastructure in place to be a force, especially in the north half of 6A, which is currently an easier route to Lucas Oil Stadium.

Returning next season will be quarterback Noah Ehrlich, leading rusher Larry Ellison, two starting offensive linemen and two tight ends and a lot of defensive players, including tackle Mark Gonzalez and linebacker Trevor Gibbs, both sophomores.

“I think it shows us where we need to be,” Buzea said. “When we took over three years ago, there were adjustments we had to make. One of them was trying to improve our team speed on defense. I think we’ve done that. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the team speed that they show (Ben Davis). But if we want to come here and win, we are going to have to find a way to combat that because I think every time you come here, you are going to find a team like this. … we’ll continue to work at it and tell our guys, ‘This is not the ceiling, this is the floor for us.’ The goal is to come back every year and we’ll continue to work at it.”

Is Josh Ringer 2023 Indiana Mr. Football?

East Central senior running back Josh Ringer certainly left a strong impression in his final high school game Saturday, rushing for 251 yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries in East Central’s 42-14 win over NorthWood for the Class 4A championship.

Ringer, a Miami (Ohio) recruit, goes out as a two-time state champion after leading East Central to a perfect 15-0 season. He rushed, unofficially, for 2,880 yards and 55 TDs this season and 6,640 yards and 93 TDs for his career. Those numbers put Ringer 14^th on the career yardage rushing list.

Ringer was humble when asked about the possibility of winning Mr. Football, which will be voted on by the Indiana Football Coaches Association. It is probably telling of Ringer’s nature that his teammates did the stumping for him.

Said senior receiver Ryan Brotherton: “He just works so hard. He doesn’t post it everywhere. He just works in silence and he’s such a humble guy — a great teammate.”

Brotherton, Ringer and quarterback Cole Burton are three of East Central’s seniors who played with and against each other going back to peewee football. Burton and Ringer have been neighbors and close friends almost their entire lives.

“He’s about as humble as it gets,” Burton said. “I don’t think there’s really a conversation (about Mr. Football), to be honest. The stats he put up this year and the way he plays … he’s a beast. It would be hard not to give it to him, in my eyes.”

Ringer first must win the Mr. Football running back position award to be considered among the finalists for the overall Mr. Football honor.

How wrong were my preseason predictions?

Hey! Not that wrong. But yeah, not perfect.

In the preseason, I correctly picked the state finals winners and the matchups in Class 4A and Class A, with East Central defeating NorthWood in 4A (42-14) and Lutheran defeating Adams Central in Class A (35-28).

I also correctly picked Bishop Chatard to win 3A, though I had the Trojans over Danville, not Heritage Hills (35-7 Chatard win). I also correctly picked Decatur Central to reach the 5A state finals but had the Hawks defeating Valparaiso (they lost 33-6 to Fort Wayne Snider).

Otherwise, not so good. I had Center Grove over Hamilton Southeastern in 6A and Triton Central over Lafayette Central Catholic in 2A (instead it was Fort Wayne Bishop Luers 40-3 over North Posey).

Three correct winners and three others in the state finals? I’d say 50% isn’t bad from the vantage point of a crystal ball in August.

By the way, overall season predictions after a 4-2 state finals weekend: 371-91 (80.3%).

Final(s) thoughts …

∎ Bishop Chatard senior linebacker Luke Purichia finished with five tackles and one sack in Chatard’s 35-7 win over Heritage Hills in the Class 3A state finals Friday. Chatard finished off an undefeated season with a defense that coach Rob Doyle said he would put up against any in the Trojans’ long and storied history, which includes a record 17 state titles.

“We have a bunch of guys who love football and love each other,” Purichia said. “We fly around, make plays and we like to do it week after week. This week, we happened to do it for 15 weeks (with all wins).”

Purichia’s older brothers, Nick and Jake, played in state championships for Cardinal Ritter as quarterbacks.

“Knowing that I followed in their footsteps and sort of did the same thing is pretty cool,” Purichia said. “And, actually out-won them, that feels awesome.”

∎ I think there might be a little seeds of momentum for seeding the tournament. It was sort of a “blah” weekend overall with attendance at 36,866 overall for the six games, which is well off the six-game record of 46,455 in 2016. The top-five crowds since a sixth class was added in 2013: 46,455 (2016), 44,503 (2014), 43,985 (2013), 42,666 (2015) and 41,876 (2019). It didn’t help that the average margin of victory in the six games was 25.8 points, the largest differential in the six-class era.

There was a lot of social media arguing this weekend about private school fatigue. Private schools won the three smallest classes: Lutheran (A), Bishop Luers (2A) and Bishop Chatard (3A). All three will move up a class next year via the tournament success factor.

There is also the unfortunate state finals television situation. Your common football fan without a rooting interest is accustomed to turning on the TV Thanksgiving weekend and watching the state finals (believe me, I’ve heard from them). Now, due to Diamond Sports Group, which owns Bally Sports Indiana among 19 regional networks, filing for bankruptcy, the partnership with the Indiana High School Athletic Association ended.

The alternative, for now, is to watch the games via streaming on IHSAAtv.org. You can pay $20 for all six games, which is not a bad deal considering. Understanding the business a bit, I know it's costly to produce these games and putting them on pay-per-view is a way to make some of that money back. Ideally, these games go back on statewide television and there is also a streaming option, like it was. But television, like a lot of media, has changed dramatically in recent years. There are not as many broadcasting options.

Still, this is not an ideal situation. Unless you have a rooting interest in one of the teams, are you going to pay $20 to watch the games on streaming? The ordinary fan liked having it on in the background, something to flip over to while watching college football or whatever else during Thanksgiving weekend. Those people are not likely to seek it out.

These are two separate conversations, I think. The football tournament, on the whole, is one of the best things going. It does not mean you should just do nothing, though. Seed the thing. Try it out at the 6A and 5A levels first, or just 6A even.

Thanks as always for reading. Plenty more to come on the football postseason honors and awards.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA football state finals: What we learned from championship weekend