Friday signified 371 days since Snider saw its 2022 season end – a one-point overtime loss to Valparaiso in semistate.
To say that night fueled the Panthers for 2023 would be oversimplifying things. It was THE focus of the offseason, the final score finding its way into the sight lines of players.
It signified one game, but also something more. How far was the 2023 team going to go to make sure that disappointment wasn’t repeated?
This year’s Panthers made sure that didn’t happen.
A 33-6 pounding of Decatur Central in the Class 5A state championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium helped exorcise demons and achieve something the Panthers couldn’t pull off last year – a state title.
It wasn’t as easy as the final score indicated. The Hawks led 3-0 after the first quarter and trailed by just a point at halftime. The final sequence of the second quarter was a mess for Snider – with a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line turning into a pair of sacks and a missed field goal.
But instead of giving Decatur Central the momentum coming out of the locker room, the Panthers seemed to take the missed opportunity as fuel.
A missed opportunity…such as last year’s semistate loss.
The final two quarters saw complete dominance out of the Panthers. The defense allowed just 28 yards in the second half. It hounded quarterback Bo Polston at every opportunity. It shut down a rushing attack that averaged 255 yards per game, holding it to just 59 yards overall.
If it wasn’t Will Kelso and Adam Blakey up front, it was Lukas Rohrbacher and Landen Fry in the middle. If it wasn’t them, it was Brandon Logan and Jamarion Kolagbodi on the back end.
As Decatur Central grew more desperate as Snider kept scoring, the defense of the Panthers turned it up. The Hawks looked visibly shaken with multiple procedure penalties and a pair of snaps hiked over the punter’s head on special teams.
In the meantime, a Snider offense that struggled early found its footing. While Decatur Central was able to get consistent pressure on Ke’ron Billingsley and bottle up the run game on most plays, the Panthers did enough to make the Hawks pay when it had defensive breakdowns. Twice Uriah Buchanan broke loose for long touchdowns of 80 and 95 yards as he finished with 235 yards and three total scores. Billinglsey, who took considerable punishment throughout the game, found Buchanan for a score and ran for another to cap his senior season off on top.
Overall, it was a Black Friday to remember for the black and yellow, a complete performance that was over a calendar year in the making.
For 370 days, last year’s loss to Valparaiso felt like yesterday for the Snider Panthers.
On Day 371, it’s now ancient history.
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