We are heading into week eight of the high school football season and that means the time my next column will come out we will be in Sectional Week.
Sectional Week should get everyone excited. However, in football it has been quite a while since we have had reason to get excited. While anything can happen on any given night this year looks to be more of the same. Let’s be honest. It would be a miracle for any of our three county teams to make a serious postseason run.
Southmont is still looking for its first sectional title. In 34 years since the state football playoffs started using the “all-in” format the Mounties have yet to win a sectional title. Southmont failed to make the playoffs in any of the previous formats.
The Mounties have an overall postseason record of 20-34. The Mounties have played in four sectional championship games. Those came in:
• 1989 (lost to Western Boone 40-14 on the road)
• 1998 (lost to Western Boone 47-14 on the road)
• 2008 (lost to North Montgomery 24-8 on the road)
• 2017 (lost to Brebeuf 48-14 on the road)
Southmont head coach Desson Hannum has compiled a 9-12 record in his 13 years at Southmont. Only four times has his teams failed to win a game in the sectional and twice he has gotten his team into the sectional final.
Crawfordsville was the first county team to ever make the playoffs when they played Mooresville in 1977. Crawfordsville lost that game 30-8.
It would be another five years before Coach Rick Schavietello had the Athenians back into the playoffs. This time the team fell to Franklin Central 9-6 to end the 1982 season. The following year the Athenians beat Edgewood 21-14 and Oak Hill 16-14 before losing to Fort Wayne Luers 19-7 in the semistate.
Overall, the Athenians have posted a playoff record of 18-37. Crawfordsville recorded sectional titles in 1983 and 1989. It also played in sectional finals in:
• 1985 (lost to West Vigo 24-23 on the road)
•1986 (lost to Zionsville 28-7 on the road)
Since winning the sectional title in 1989 Crawfordsville has not played in a sectional championship game — a span of 30 years. Since the 2000 season, Crawfordsville has won just four sectional games (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007). Crawfordsville has not won a sectional game since beating West Vigo 36-0 on the road on Oct. 19, 2007. Since that time the Athenians have gone 0-1 for 11 straight seasons.
Of course North Montgomery has been the most successful county team in the postseason, thanks to its back-to-back state championships in 1995 and 1996.
Like Southmont, the Chargers did not make the playoffs until the “all-in” format began in 1985. The Chargers have compiled an overall record of 42-32 in the postseason. The Chargers have claimed sectional titles in 1995, 1996 and 2008. The 2008 title is the last title the county has won.
From 1990 to 1999 the Chargers posted a 24-8 record and then followed that decade up with a 12-10 record from 2000-2009.
In addition, to the three sectional titles, the Chargers have also played in the sectional championship seven more times (1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2015). The Chargers were able to reach the championship game for a six straight years (1992-1997 and 1999 to give the Chargers an appearance in the title game seven out of 10 times.
From 1990 to 2009 the Chargers were only eliminated in the first round twice. Since 2010 the Chargers have been bounced out in the first round six out of nine years.
In two week we will see which school, if any, will be able to be the first team to make a sectional final since 2017 or win a sectional title since 2008.
Barry Lewis has been playing or covering sports in Montgomery County for more than 40 years and enjoys helping to keep our sports heritage alive with his bi-weekly column for the Journal Review.
