By Andy Amey
I’m not going to get to go, but then again why should I have to? It’s a regular occurrence by now.
Yes, Lowell is in Saturday’s Class 4A high school football championship game — again. It’s the third time in five seasons for the Red Devils, who may have to worry about coach Kirk Kennedy getting hired away by Notre Dame.
Brian Kooistra, another expatriated Red Devil, took time out from building Union Hospital to listen to the internet broadcast on Saturday night and told me the 24-21 semistate win got pretty exciting at the end.
Apparently Lowell kicked the go-ahead field goal against favored Fort Wayne Dwenger, but Dwenger’s Saints were driving as the clock wound down.
The Red Devils started celebrating after a fourth-down stop, only to have Dwenger awarded a first down after a measurement. Then a Lowell player was flagged for pass interference on the last play of the game, giving Dwenger an untimed down near the 20-yard line. The field goal attempt to tie the game was missed, thankfully.
One of Lowell’s assistant coaches is Jim Kiechle, the massive tackle I lined up against at seemingly every practice of my high school career. I’m sure one of his main functions now is keeping the current team grounded, pointing out that success wasn’t always a given for the Red Devils.
You probably remember from last week’s column how Lowell did during my senior year, but their recent success isn’t the only surprise for the people from the Class of 1966.
1. Lowell has a radio station.
2. Lowell has the internet.
• Hard workers — I had this tidbit saved up for last week’s Vigo County awards column, so naturally I forgot it. Terre Haute South quarterback Bryn Schwartz appeared in 40 straight varsity games in his four years for the Braves — not unprecedented, but certainly an accomplishment (especially considering some of the punishment he took running the ball the last couple of years).
Another busy athlete recently was Adrienne Strohm of Marshall, who was on the basketball court most of the time for the Lions in a girls game Friday night, a girls game Saturday morning and a girls game Saturday night.
Between those two Saturday games — on the road — she came back to Marshall to be drum major for the Marching Lions at the Class 2A football playoff game.
• Worthy tribute — I was happy to see last week that the Otter Creek Middle School gymnasium is now named in honor of former athletic director and coach Bill Thornton.
Bill might also have been the best public address announcer I’ve heard for high school sports (with apologies to Mickey Burk), and I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of summer days and nights with him and Liz and their kids as we coached baseball together.
• One of the greats — I was sad to hear about the death of Margaret Gisolo, a truly legendary figure in Vermillion County sports.
She’ll go down in history for her work in dance, which I know nothing about (although I do recognize the name Martha Graham, one of the many people she worked with). The guys in the pressbox at Blanford and I knew her as a shortstop with a good bat who led Blanford to an American Legion state championship 81 years ago.
• Signup for “youngsters” — Chuck Lindner is trying to start an over-40 men’s basketball league that would play Wednesday nights at the West Vigo Community Center starting in January. All interested should contact Chuck or call (812) 533-7145 by Jan. 19.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at (812) 231-4277 or at 1-800-783-8742; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
