The South Gibson Star-Times serves the towns of Haubstadt, Owensville and Fort Branch.
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Proud to say that we are in Titan Country! Great job, Titans Football! We are proud of you! H OEFLING TIRE & SERVICE CENTER 812-753-3831 | 377 E. 795 S. Fort Branch, IN 47648 Say It Loud! Say It Clear! THE TITANS ARE FIERCE! Auto • Home • Business • Life 812-753-3737 802 E. Locust St., Fort Branch Congratulations, Titans! STATE CHAMPS! You are Gridiron Giants! D-8 Titans: 2021 3A State Champions Tuesday, November 30, 2021 South Gibson Star-Times Titans hold on against Lawrenceburg in Regional By Andy Heuring Star-Times Sports sports@sgstartimes.com Everyone knows Gibson South- ern's football team has talent, but it wasn't really known if they had the heart to win a gut check game. On Saturday night, November 13, they checked that box with a come-from- behind 31-29 win. "It was a gritty win against a re- ally good football team. You have to win games like that in the tourna- ment. It was a great night," said Ti- tan Coach Nick Hart, who won his fourth Regional in his 10th year at Gibson Southern. It was also Gibson Southern's fourth ever football Re- gional title. The Titans jumped out to a 28 -7 lead early in the third quarter be- fore giving up 22 unanswered points. With less than four minutes left in the game, they drove down the field to fourth and goal from the one. Se- nior kicker Chris Spear came on to drill a 19 -yard field goal to put the Ti- tans back in the lead. Still it took a heroic defensive stand to thwart another Lawrence- burg drive as they hung on for a 31- 29 win and the first Regional Cham- pionship since 2015. Titan quarterback Brady Allen had another big night, completing 21 of 43 passes for 293 yards and four touchdowns to four different receivers. "He made big plays, threw four touchdowns, made a lot of bigs plays throughout the night," said Hart. The game started much like most of the Titans' games, although against a stronger opponent. Gibson Southern kicked off and eventually got Lawrenceburg off the field, but not before they had driven across midfield, gaining five or six yards on nearly every play. Once into Gibson Southern ter- ritory, the Titan defense stiffened. Lawrenceburg quarterback Garrett Yoon was stopped for a one-yard loss on second down to make it third and five. Then Titan defensive lineman Tye Whitledge dropped Yoon for no gain, forcing a punt. Yoon would be giant thorn in the Titans' side all night with 368 yards of offense. He passed for 224 yards and three touchdowns and was the Tigers' top rusher with 114 yards and one rushing touchdown. The punt took a Lawrenceburg roll to the Titans' two-yard line. Allen and the Titan offense were on their mark early. They would cov- er the 98 yards in two minutes and eight plays. It featured an Adrean Lukeman run for 23 yards on third and one, along with consecutive passes to Sean DeLong for 16 and then a 28 -yard touchdown with 5:01 left in the first quarter. Lawrenceburg responded with a nine-play drive that covered 72 yards and featured runs of 13 and finally a 21-yard touchdown run by Yoon. It al- so included a 19 -yard pass by Yoon to Dahya Patel. Both teams traded possessions, but Gibson Southern started their third possession with 8:13 left in the half. Allen hit Heltsley for 16 yards. Three plays later, facing third and two, Lukeman went for six yards and a first down to extend the drive. On the ninth play of the series, Allen found Brayden Malone, who took it in from 14 yards out and gave them a 21-7 lead. Lawrenceburg moved the ball to midfield again, but Yoon fumbled and GS recovered the ball with 19 seconds left in the half. Gibson Southern got the ball to start the second half and promptly marched down the field. It started with a 12-yard pass to Malone that put the Titans at the 49 -yard line. On first down, DeLong ran for seven. An encroachment penalty on Lawrenceburg gave the Titans a first down at the Lawrenceburg 37. A holding penalty set the Titans back 10 yards. Allen then hit Malone for eight, and on the next play, Law- renceburg was called for pass inter- ference, a 15 -yard penalty. It wasn't enough for a first down, but made it second and four. An incomplete pass left Gibson Southern looking at third and four. Lukeman came in and was stopped short, making it fourth and two. Gib- son Southern repeated the play with Lukeman on fourth down, and this time, despite being hit at the line of scrimmage, he managed to break free and picked up seven yards and the first down. On the next play, Allen hit Levi Dickerson out of the back field for a 22-yard touchdown. Dickerson, who had a huge night on defense as well, said, "Oh man, I barely caught that, I caught it by the fingertip. I was just concentrating on the ball and once I caught it, I just, I mean I just kept going. We just had to keep going as a team." Dickerson's touchdown made it 28 - 7 early in the third quarter and ap- peared to give the Titans control of the game. But it didn't. Lawrenceburg promptly went on a 22-point run that featured three touchdowns in 11 minutes. It took them only three plays to re- spond after going down 28 -7. A short run was followed by an incomplete pass broken up by Malone. Howev- er, Malone was shaken up and came out of the game. On the next play, fac- ing third and seven, Yoon was chased out of the pocket. While scrambling, he found Patel near the sideline. Pa- tel then raced 76 yards for a score to make it 28 -14 with nine minutes left in the third quarter. Both teams began to struggle on offense as they traded two posses- sions each. Then Lawrenceburg took over with 50 seconds left in the third quarter. A fter a 14-yard run by Yoon, the Titans were called for pass inter- ference, which moved the Tigers to mid-field. Three plays, later Yoon hit Patel for a 40 -yard touchdown. Law- renceburg then went for two and Yoon again hit Patel for the two-point conversion. It made the score 28 -22 with 11:02 left in the game. With Gibson Southern facing third and 11, Allen unleashed a bomb downfield that was intercepted. It was the equivalent of a punt and Law- renceburg took over on their 30 -yard line. They went for 14 yards on the first play, then Yoon hit Patel, this time for 56 -yard touchdown. The Tigers cov- ered the 70 yards in 28 seconds. The PAT gave them the lead 29 -28. Gibson Southern's next posses- sion stalled out and they were forced to punt again with 7:59 left. Lawrenceburg took over at their 41. A run for no gain and two incom- plete passes gave the Titans the ball back at their own 27-yard line with 6:55 left. On the second play, Allen hit Helts- ley for 35 yards that went across mid- field to the Lawrenceburg 31. Allen, on second down, hit Isaac O'Neal for 10 yards, which was followed by an eight-yard run by DeLong. Lukeman went seven and five yards on consecutive plays that left Gibson Southern facing second and goal from the three. Lawrenceburg defense then stopped Lukeman short on two more consecutive runs, leaving Gib- son Southern facing fourth and goal from the two. "A lot of thoughts go through your mind in those 10 seconds," said Coach Hart. "I didn't know if three was going to be good enough. Ultimately, it felt like you take the points and the lead. Our defense has been really good. They only had two drives for big plays, one was on a bro- ken play. So take the points and take the lead, and turn it over to our de- fense," said Hart. Senior Chris Spear came in on what was basically PAT and drilled the uprights, giving the Titans a 31- 29 lead with 3:25 left. "We have been practicing that stuff all season," said Hart. Gibson Southern had to get one de- fensive stop. Their kickoff defensive hemmed in Teagen Bennett at the 19. Yoon hit Gilmour for six yards, then had an incomplete pass on third and four. Bennett ran for seven yards and a first down. On first down, Dickerson tackled Gilmour after a one-yard gain. Yoon's passes on second and third down were incomplete, making it fourth and nine from Lawrenceburg's 33. Yoon scrambled and hit Gilmour for 18 yards for a first down at the Titan 49 -yard line with 1:44 left. On first down, Yoon went for four yards, then on second down, Ben Luttrell and Jacob Kempf met Yoon at the line of scrimmage. On third down, Bennett gained four yards, leaving Lawrenceburg facing fourth and one at the 42-yard line with 51 seconds left. Yoon took it and rolled out of the backfield, but was chased down by Lukeman and Dickerson, just short of the first down. "They were huge all night on of- fense and defense," said Hart of Dick- erson and Lukeman. "That was a big one," said Hart about the defensive stand. Gibson Southern took over on downs with less than 50 seconds left. They took a knee and the Titans were Regional champions. 31 29 - GIBSON SOUTHERN REGIONAL LAWRENCEBURG NOV. 13, 2021 GAME 13 Titan senior quarterback Brady Allen passes the ball to Sean DeLong, Titan sophomore, who runs the ball for 28 yards to the endzone for the score, during the Gibson Southern Regional game against Lawrenceburg on Saturday, Nov. 13. Drew Foster holds the ball in place for place kicker Chris Spear, who hit the winning field goal with 3:12 left and was a perfect four for four on PATs.