Sports

Article courtsey of Busco Voice 

In every persons life there is a moment in time that they’ll never forget and Friday night a group of young men walked onto a grassy field slightly coated with a fall mildew and created a memory for themselves, parents & friends alike.

That moment in time was Friday night when the Churubusco Eagles claimed their second regional title in three years.

The Eagles (11-1) hosted the Hagerstown Tigers (12-0) for the 1A Indiana football regional title.

Churubusco stumbled a bit early on with two hefty penalties giving the Tigers a very good chance at taking an early lead. But as usual the defense for the Eagles dug in and forced the Tigers into a field goal attempt which strayed wide right keeping goose eggs on the boards for both teams.

Quarterback Kyle Monk marched onto the field and led the Eagles into Tigers territory handing the ball off to Kyle Matthewson at the 33 yard line and he was gone. At 3:27 in the 1st quarter the Eagles found themselves on the board leading 6-0.

Momentum in any sport is one thing, but catching a freight train of emotion, talent and skill is another.

Just over 2:00 minutes later Monk connected with Jeremy Forker and 47 yards later he was in the end zone putting Churubusco up 12-0 with 1:31 left in the first quarter.

Remember that momentum I spoke about a minute ago? Now the Eagles were on that freight train and a run by Matthewson was quite incredible. He ran up the center only to be met by a host of Hagerstown defensive players and bam, he collides with one, two, three, four. All of the sudden he crashes through a couple more players and the next thing you know he plows his way for 38 yards giving ‘Busco another score with just 38 seconds left in the first making it 18-0.

Amazingly enough it was only 4 seconds later on the ensuing punt to the Tigers that ‘Busco found themselves in the end zone again when Jordan Turner found a pig skin bouncing out in front of him. Now it was 24-0 with 34 seconds left in the first quarter.

It took the Eagles a little longer to score in the 2nd quarter, but from 12 yards out Matthewson marched in for yet another touchdown with Parker Conrad finishing off the drive on the extra point. Churubusco now led 31-0 in the 2nd with 2:01 left before the half.

Not only did the Eagles offensive weapons become an issue for the Tigers, but turnovers as well. Austin Boggess picked off a pass from the Tigers quarterback giving the Eagles the ball back on the 38 yard line and with only 13.9 left in the half, Monk connected with LeFever for a 35 yard touchdown putting the score at 37-0 going into the locker room.

This year it almost seemed impossible to think of a game where Matthewson didn’t break out for a big run and at 7:59 in the 3rd quarter he didn’t let his team (or his fans) down and busted out for 58 yards making it 44-0.

Despite the score and the time left in the game the Tigers weren’t about to give up and pulled out a few tricks to try and get back in the game. A hand off to their full back then turned into a 51 yard touchdown pass making it 44-7.

The Eagles would score two more times with an 8-yard run from Jason Nicodemus and a 1-yard run from Chandler Brown while Hagerstown only made it in once more time making it 58-14 and then it happened…

The clock was at 00:00 and the Churubusco Eagles football team could call themselves Regional Champs.

It was a spectacular moment in time for these young men & the fans that came out to cheer them on. They’ll travel to Lafayette Central Catholic high school (ranked 48th in the state) next week for the semi-state championship.

I suspect signs stating “turn the lights off when you leave” & “if you’re the last one out of town, shut the door” will be popping up all week long creating yet another memory in time for this little town called Churubusco and it’s Eagle football team.