JIM PETERS: Red Devils bemoan missed chances

INDIANAPOLIS | The football, extended from Justin Juarez's right arm, was tantalizingly close to the goal line and a second-quarter Lowell touchdown.

As the Red Devil junior running back attempted to reach the end zone, the ball was knocked loose and recovered by Evansville Reitz's Shane Woodget.

"The kid's trying to make a play," Lowell coach Kirk Kennedy said. "What can you say?"

It was that kind of game for Lowell in Saturday's 23-9 loss in the Class 4A state championship at Lucas Oil Stadium.

So close, yet so far.

"It was stupid on my part," Juarez said. "We were driving and I fumbled. It screwed us over. I was on the 3-yard line. I thought I'd be able to reach it. Actually, I was pretty close. I feel I personally let the seniors down a little bit."

Lowell rushed for 202 yards, but managed only one touchdown against the Panthers, leaving enough points on the turf to wonder what might have been.

"We had our chances," Kennedy said. "We just wanted to get to the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game, and we didn't get it done."

On its next possession, Lowell set up shop at the Reitz 19 following an 18-yard Cole Midgett punt return. The Red Devils reached the 5, but wound up settling for a Boge Pejoski field goal, their only points of the first half.

That wasn't going to cut it.

"We couldn't afford to have drives stall and they did," said quarterback Ray Skamay, who rushed for 63 yards. "We had a lot of mistakes that could've changed the outcome. We just didn't come out and execute."

Down 13-3, Lowell went for it on fourth-and-9 at the Reitz 35 late in the first half, but Skamay was sacked. The Panthers needed just three plays to traverse the 53 yards and put down the Red Devils in a 20-3 hole.

Make that a crater.

"At that point in time, I could feel the game getting away from us," Kennedy said. "I wanted to give the kids a chance to make a play. You've got believe in your kids. They've given me every reason to believe in them. Why wouldn't I believe in them? It's a play I'd do again."

Lowell put together its only TD drive to start the second half to get within 20-9. Down 14 in the fourth, it got to the Reitz 5, where Grubbe was stopped just short on fourth down, at least according to the spot, pretty much summing up the Red Devils' day and sealing their fate all in one.

"You look at the second-half scoring, they got three on our defense," Juarez said. "I thought we did really good except for a trick play and a couple big passes. We just needed more offense. They knew we were going to run. Everybody knows we're going to run. It's how they stop it and they did a pretty good job."

Lowell pretty much knew what was coming, too. It just couldn't stop it. Reitz hit plays of 35, 42, 46 and 51 yards, accounting for a huge chunk of its total offense on four snaps. That proved to be enough to down the Devils for the second time in three years.

"Getting down here is not our goal," Kennedy said. "Our goal is to win here. We've got to refocus and make an adjustment there."

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at jim.peters@nwi.com.