Perry Meridian High School - Passages Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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128 FOOTBALL

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Strong Defense Keeps Games Close Because of the practice time lost to varsity coaching, reserve Coach Dick Chew feh the first few games were ' xmorganized but then showed rapid improvement. We played a lot of kids number one to hope for improve- ment and to give the kid a chance to show what he can do, stated Coach Chew. Coach Chew felt, Our defense is as good or better than anyone. The defense really kept us in a lot of games. Assistant Coach Bret Andrews felt that the enthusiam of the players and the fact that they never gave up helped the team the most. Coach An- drews stated, The kids were not happy with our 2-7 record, but they were happy with the improvement in themselves that they could see. Doug May ' 85 and quarterback for the team felt that every game was close and with a little more offense they would have had a better chance. Our games were mostly passing games. Most reserve teams nm the ball. Especially near the end, the passing dominated the game, stated Doug. He also stated, The inex- perience of the sophomores really hurt. By the end of the year, everyone had really improved. Mark Booth ' 85 played on both the offense and defense. He played as a defensive end of the defense and a tight end for offense. He noted the lack of playing time together as one thing that hurt the team. For Mark, the highlight of his season was the game against Lawrence Central. Eric Warwick ' 86 stated, The weak points of our team were our small size and our inconsistant play- ing, and because of the small number of serious injuries, we were able to use our starting men. Tom Sims ' 86 felt this year gave a good chance to show ability. He felt the strong frdl back, tail back, and wide receiver were the strong posi- tions on the team. He felt the highlight of the season was the Howe game because everyone came together and gave 100%. Looking at the season, Doug May threw for 1217 yards. Mark Booth had 18 catches. Ryan Spears had 71 tackles and 38 assists. All in all, the opposition outscored only by one point. The total was 111; the op- ponents scored 112. Reserve Football Season Record; 2-7 PM 14 13 7 8 7 13 12 39 PM 6 6 60 36 7 22 20 28 North Central Lawrence North Warren Central Manual Greenwood Southport Ben Davis Lawrence Central Howe Freshman Football Season Record; 5-4 North Central Lawrence North Stonybrook Manual Howe Southport South Wayne Lawrence Central Howe OPP 13 18 18 14 12 16 14 18 OPP 14 12 26 6 12 FOOTBALL 127

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Nc-w Coaelt Brings Big CHanges Coming from a 1-9 season in the previous year to a 9-1 record was tough. We caught some people nap- ping, said first year Coach Steve Purichia. I was very encouraged by the level of athletic ability and hard working attitudes of the players. He stated, I was both pleased and a lit- tle surprised with the outcome. He attributed the success of the team to the seniors. The senior leadership was responsible for setting an exam- ple and reestabhshed the football tradition at Perry. He hoped it helped the foundation the following year. Coach Purichia came to Perry from Indianapohs Chatard High School in ' 83 with an impressive record. With this background, he gained the re- spect of the team from the furst meeting, stated Robbie Patterson ' 84. He worked and pushed us hard to win, taught us aU that he knew, and left it up to us. The team finished regular season play with a three-way tie for the class AAAA state playoffs. Dan Ward ' 84, imhappy with the way the tie breaker was handled, thought that the team with the best record should be able to continue on in the championships. This was not the case. It ended with Perry fumbling their first play ending their season. Brian Oliver ' 84 felt this was his best year during his high school career. He made all-metro defensive end and second term All State UPI defensive end. I felt that Coach Purichia was the man we ' ve needed for a long time, stated Brian. I felt that Coach Purichia gave us a lot of confidence and made everyone play up to potential. Brent Scheib ' 84 thought the strong points of the team were the togetherness and determination of the team. He felt this was the most enjoyable football season in his 10 years of playing. In his fmal state- ment Brent said, I felt Coach Purichia motivated everyone to play hard. I feel he is one of the best coaches in the state. 87 23 26 7 6 15 7 6 Varsity Football Season Record: 9-1 PM 17 Marshall 48 Martinsville 24 Lawrence North 7 Warren Central 17 Manual 35 Bloomington North 28 Southport 28 Ben Davis 9 Lawrence Central 28 Howe FOOTBALL 129 msmmm msmsumam