Rushville 2008 Season

2008 Schedule & Results

 * HOOSIER HERITAGE CONFERENCE GAME |

2008 Stats
Rushing & Receiving

Defensive Points

Impact Players




Sectional 22
2008 was hopefully the year Rushville Football would finally realize the dream of accomplishing something no Rushville team has done since 1983; win a sectional championship. With several returning starters on both sides of the ball in 2008, and coming off a strong finish to the 2007 season, it was thought this might be the year to do just that. Of course, with two-time defending state champion Bishop Chatard in the same sectional, everyone knew the road to winning a sectional would most likely go through the Trojans. Ultimately, this would turn out to be the case.

Rushville drew T. C. Howe for the first round of Sectional 22. Howe came into the tournament winless, which for the Lions meant the Hornets would come into the game with a "Nothing to lose" attitude. Howe fielded a very young team for the 2008 season. With a Freshman QB leading the Howe Hornets' offense, Rushville wanted to set the tone of the game early by not giving the Hornets anything to get excited about. The first possession of the game for both teams pretty much indicated how the game was going to play out. Howe started the game with the ball, turning it over shortly thereafter on a fumble. Rushville capitalized on the turnover with a Spencer Comer pass to Blaek Combs on a crossing route for the 28 yard TD connection. The remainder of the contest pretty much followed suit, and the Lions ended up recording their only shut out of the year with a 49-0 win. It was a solid team effort on both sides of the ball for the Lions. Combs, Spencer Comer, Craig Jones, Zach Comer, Adam Holstein and Freshman Kaleb Lambert all reached paydirt for the Lions on one or more occasions. Defensively, Rushville played with discipline against Howe's developing Wing-T offense, which will be a force to reckon with down the road.

Round 2 would send the Lions back to the friendly confines of Hinshaw Field to host Hamilton Heights for a much anticipated rematch against the Huskies, whom ended the Lions season in 2007 in Round 2 with a 1 point come-from-behind victory at Hinshaw Field. With the Huskies losing most of their starters from 2007 to graduation, and the bitter taste of defeat still in their mouths from last years encounter, the Lions were extremely motivated for the rematch. A Craig Jones kickoff return, sandwiched between a Matt Zinaman field goal and TD runs by Jones and Adam Holstein, Rushville would do all of their scoring in the first half, and let the defense secure the win. As was anticipated, the memory of last years game still lingered in the minds of the Lions, and emotions were running high. Midway through the second half, a skirmish broke on the HH sidelines. When the dust settled, players from both teams were ejected, but cooler heads finally prevailed and the Lions were on their way to a shot at a sectional championship after the 21-14 payback.

For the Lions, playing in the Sectional 22 Championship game was a "Good news; not so good news" scenario. Rushville's Hinshaw Field would be the site of the championship game. That was the 'good news'. The 'not so good news' was the realization of what the Lions figured was inevitably going to be waiting for them; Bishop Chatard. Nonetheless, Rushville was knocking at the door of an opportunity they had set their eyes upon since the end of the 2007 season; a sectional championship. They knew regardless of the opponent, it would not be an easy accomplishment. A good week of practice led up to the showdown the players had been looking forward to for so long. In spite of the momentum the Lions had gained going into the game, Chatard was everything Rushville had heard about all year long. In the end, the size and depth of the Trojans was more than the Lions could overcome, and Chatard walked off the field as sectional champions that night. Touchdown runs by Holstein and Jones and a Matt Zinaman extra point accounted for the 13 points Rushville would put up on the Trojans, whose defense was only allowing 7.9 points per game up to that point. The Lions, however, had no reason to hang their heads. The 2008 campaign was the most successful season put together since 2000. With a solid core of Juniors and Sophmores returning for the 2009 season, the Lions hopes of winning that elusive sectional championship may only have to wait one more year.