Steve Letnich remembers the awe of walking through the tunnel of the Hoosier Dome on Nov. 30, 1986. And the Valparaiso quarterback recalls the shock of trying to compete against Jeff George's Warren Central team in the Class 5A state championship that year.

"We didn't have too many good memories," Letnich said of the Vikings' 31-7 loss to the future NFL quarterback, who was 25-of-46 for 257 yards and two touchdowns.

Since the IHSAA moved its state championship games indoors in November of 1984 until last year's state finals, the Dome has been a rallying cry for state football teams in Indiana. The Dome will be imploded on Dec. 20. Lucas Oil Stadium, a block to the south, has eliminated the need for the white-topped facility that was a part of the Indianapolis skyline for the better parts of three decades.

The Region has had 22 teams advance to the RCA Dome (known as the Hoosier Dome until 1994) for state championship games, with eight schools winning titles.

Hobart was the first local team to play in the Dome, suffering a 28-8 loss to Warren Central in the 1984 Class 4A state final. Lowell was the last team to play in the Dome, in last year's state final, and was the last local team to win a state title there, in 2005.

"We had a lot of good memories there," said Lowell coach Kirk Kennedy, who lost to Fort Wayne Dwenger last Saturday in the semistate, one game shy of Lucas Oil. "It would've been fun to play in the new place."

Valpo played in the first 5A state final in 1985 and the Vikings were the last 5A team from the Region to play indoors, losing in the 2001 championship. Things didn't change much in the 24 years that state championships were played there.

"It was a huge experience," Letnich said. "It was something me and my teammates were gunning for. Everything was about the Dome. We were rallying around that all year."

In 1985, Valpo shared the locker room with Hobart, which lost to Brownsburg in the 4A state final on a last-second Hail Mary pass.

"It was a tragic loss," Letnich said.

The Valpo QB, who played for Air Force and Purdue, hit Chad Fortune on a 60-yard scoring pass, which was the only highlight for the Vikings. Even though they lost, Letnich knew the game had changed when it became room temperature.

"The weather that year was horrible," he said. "When we played Merrillville is was freezing and raining sideways. When we played Fort Wayne Snider it was like we were running on razor blades, it was frozen solid. Even though we wanted to win, it was still a great experience to be a part of that game."

After six runner-up finishes, with only two coming indoors, Hobart finally broke through in 1987, beating Jasper 31-0. When Don Howell finally raised his finger inside the Hoosier Dome, an entire community celebrated. Hobart also won state titles in 1989, 1991 and 1993.

In 1997 Andrean's Bobby Finn put on a performance that had the Indianapolis Chatard fans standing and cheering. Despite the 27-24 loss, Finn escaped 11 would-be tacklers, some of them multiple times, before diving into the corner of the end zone. Finn later became one of 11 Region players to win the Phil N. Eskew Award for Mental Attitude inside the Dome.

"I chuckle when I think about it now," Finn said. "It would've been just as efficient if I would've seen Mike Hadt jumping up and down in the end zone by himself. If I would've seen him I would've saved a lot of energy."

Finn runs the oxygen tanks on the sidelines for Colts games and has for the last couple of years. He's seen both the Dome and Lucas Oil eight Sundays each year. But his memories of the Dome are special.

"It was a little bigger than Father Eckert (Field)," Finn said.

Andrean would lose two more state finals games in the Dome before Tommy Finn, Bobby's little brother, would finally get a state title in 2004. But in 2002, while Chatard was pounding the 59ers 31-12, Andrean coach Wally McCormack spoke about the difference between an NFL stadium and a high school field.

"We were getting killed," said McCormack, now the coach at Hobart. "I had my play sheet and I had notes written on the other side. I was just flipping the page over and over, back and forth, trying to come up with something that would work. And I look up and they've got me on the Jumbotron. That was nice."

Nothing was nicer than in 2004 when Tommy Finn, who was inside the Dome for the third time, took over the game against Heritage Hills and the 59ers took home the Class 3A state championship. He was in the stands when his older brother played there. Now, it was Bobby eating popcorn and cheering.

"You walk in during practice and say, 'Wow, this place is huge,'" Tommy said. "The whistles were two times louder. The coach's voices were so much louder. You know you're not going to get 80,000 fans like the Colts do, but when you walk out in front of 10,000 it feels like 80,000 people are there."

When Bobby made his two-point run, Tommy was jumping up and down like any fifth-grader would. He later went to the rest room and ran into Lowell's Jeff Clemens, who was a big rival of his in the Crown Point Junior Bulldogs league. Finn said the two didn't like each other too much.

But when rivals get inside the Dome, everything changes.

"It was the first time I felt that Region respect," Tommy said. "He was one of my big rivals at that time. But we talked about how big of a play that was that Bobby made. It was Region time in the Dome."

One year after Tommy won his state title, Clemens got his Lowell team to the state final. After starting the year 1-4 and trailing Indianapolis Roncalli 21-7 at the half of the 4A title game, the Red Devils stormed back to win 28-27, claiming the last Region state title under the white roof.

In one of the more touching moments in that place, Kennedy placed his blue medal around the neck of his 78-year-old father, Bob, who was sitting in a wheelchair.

"This is yours. You take it," Bob yelled. Kirk just walked away.

Just two months later, his father passed away. Before the start of the next season, Kennedy remembered that special moment in the underbelly of the Dome.

"That thing in the (RCA Dome) hallway, however we got there, whatever we did, he was there supporting and encouraging," Kirk said. "He's probably up in heaven, showing off the medal, and boring people with stories about the game. They're saying, 'Hey, we're in heaven. We saw the game. Stop talking.'

"I could sit and listen to his stories all day."