The Jewell was home to tears of sadness, uncertainty and also celebration on Friday night when the Titan football team secured its sixth Regional title in 14 years under the leadership of coach Nick Hart and his band of assistants.
Facing off against the Indian Creek Braves, who won their first Sectional title since 2011, the Titans played to packed stands of fans: students, staff, parents and community members. The Braves were led by sophomore quarterback Evan Clark, who has thrown for a total of 17 touchdowns this season. The Braves beat the Scottsburg Warriors 49-13 for their Sectional win, and the Titans took out the Mater Dei Wildcats 17-14 for their Sectional title.
The Titans came out on the board first and early. Quarterback Zach Foster made his way into the endzone on a short quarterback sneak to take the early lead. Starting out fast was important for the Titans and a focus for the team all week according to Hart.
“It is something we talked about all week about being loose and starting fast,” he said. “I thought the last couple weeks our guys were putting a lot of pressure on themselves, and we were tight coming out.”
Shortly after the early touchdown from Foster, Indian Creek’s Jaxon Ramey took back a 93-yard kickoff return to tie up the game and put some of the energy back on the Braves side. Jaykob Gumerson’s kick was good for the extra point.
The Titans have had a few struggles on special teams during their playoff run. During the Sectional semi-final game, Memorial returned a touchdown back on a punt, and this past game against the Braves the Titans gave up a long kick-off return. This is one area where the team is striving to improve.
“[It is] Something we are definitely working to clean up,” Hart said. “We had some lane issues on Friday and Indian Creek executed that return very well.”
The Titans’ offense responded right way. After a successful drive, the Titans got back up on the board to post a seven-point lead with Foster’s second one-yard touchdown run of the night.
To start off the second quarter, Foster threw a touchdown to senior receiver Noah Kuester. The Titans managed to stop the Braves’ offense, and senior running back Colin Scherer scored on a 10-yard run. The Titans went on to force another stop and regain possession.
Foster mounted another drive in the last minutes of the second quarter. At around a minute and 30 seconds left, Foster took off to run, was rolled up on and immediately threw off his helmet. After a 30-minute delay, Foster was carted off the field with a season-ending leg injury, a combined tibia-fibula fracture. Junior quarterback Caden Rochleau entered the game. Rochleau wanted to finish Foster’s job, and he did just that.
“We just went out there and did it all for Zach because he deserves it,” Rochleau said. “He worked so hard to get this far, and we weren’t going to let him down.”
Rochleau threw for a touchdown and ran for a 54-yard touchdown. Later on, the Braves scored on a 40-yard touchdown pass.
“During the stoppage, we knew we had a big loss,” junior Cole Ridens said. “That just means we need to come out even stronger and finish in every way.”
The Titans took home the title of Regional champions and won with a final score of 42-14, putting them on the road to Cascade High School in Clayton, Indiana this weekend. On Saturday, the maroon and gold take on the 13-0 Cascade Cadets at 6:00 p.m. CST for a Semi-State title.
