On Friday night at Leighton Stadium in South Bend, our Hobart Brickies squared off with the Class 4A #7-ranked St. Joseph Huskies for the IHSAA North Regional Championship. In the 80s, the Bricks beat St Joe in 3 consecutive sectionals (85, 86 & 87) ... in the 2010s, St Joe beat Hobart 4 times in 5 years (13, 14, 15 & 17), but these two programs had not seen each other again until now. Would our boys be able to even the score?
With a chill in the air ... just enough to see your breath when you exhale, this one had all the feels of a REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP atmosphere! The Brickie faithful were PACKED into the visitor bleachers and spilling over around the fenced in field to witness this BATTLE on the gridiron!
Early on, you could tell this would be a D-D-D-DEFENSIVE struggle as each team brought a stingy group on that side of the ball. After trading a few punts, the host Huskies were able to muster a 36-yd field goal late in the opening quarter to claim a 3-0 lead ... which was the only score of the period. With 8 minutes to go in the half, Hobart junior Stephen Miller stepped in front of an errant pass for an INTERCEPTION to give the Brickies the ball in Husky territory!! Our boys moved the ball inside the 5 and senior Max Pickett did the rest ... scoring on a 1-yd TOUCHDOWN RUN to give Hobart the lead!! When junior kicker Peter Janda sent the point after through the uprights, it was 7-3 Brickies at the half!
The Brickie D-D-D-DEFENSE forced a St Joe punt early in the 3rd quarter, but the Husky defense stood tall and turned Hobart over on downs. The hosts then mounted a drive ... a few yards at a time ... to get into field goal range. At that point, St Joe ran some razzle dazzle with looked like a reverse half-back pass that found a receiver in the endzone for a touchdown. At the end of 3 quarters, it was St Joe 10, Hobart 7.
In the final period of play, once again ... it was the D-D-D-DEFENSE that ruled the day for both teams. Hobart tried desperately to get the ground game going, but St Joe shut it down. The Huskies tried to extend their lead, but the Brickies were swarming to the ball and stopping them in their tracks. THIS WAS A BATTLE!! Finally, with just under a minute to play ... our boys got the ball one more time ... 80 yards away from a potential game-winning score. It was tough sledding, but the Bricks managed to move the ball up to the 45 yard line and got one more untimed play thanks to a penalty on the Huskies. Junior QB Aleks Tatum scrambled around to buy time and then launched the football towards classmate Bryce Tolliver who was running towards the endzone with 2 Husky defenders giving chase. As the ball came down, a collective hush fell over the crowd for a moment to see what happened ..... was the Hail Mary prayer answered?? Unfortunately, the St Joseph fans erupted & stormed the field, which meant that the Brickie's fantastic season had come to an end.
Our boys played their hearts out ... our coaches gave it everything they had in preparing and motivating ... our fans were absolutely TERRIFIC in their support ... it just wasn't our night. The end is hard, but the ride our guys took us on this fall was nothing short of AMAZING. They were fun to watch ... they improved as the season advanced ... and they secured Hobart's 23rd IHSAA Sectional Title. When the dust settles and the sting of Friday night softens, it'll be easy to see what a great year it was on the gridiron.
We are SO PROUD of our boys, Coach Schreiber and his staff, and every single person who contributed to this memorable campaign! THANK YOU for sharing the journey with us - it was one we won't soon forget!!
The Brickies finished the season with an overall record of 10-3 ... the most wins for Hobart since the 2020 team made it to state.
#DOUBTUS
