11/29/2008

By STEVE HERMAN  / Associated Press

Ross Hendrickson passed for 423 yards and three touchdowns and scored the winning TD on a 4-yard run with 40 seconds remaining, giving top-ranked and unbeaten Indianapolis Ritter a 34-27 victory over Sheridan for the Indiana high school Class A football championship on Friday.

Sheridan, trying for a record 10th championship, tied the game midway through the final period on an 8-yard run by Ty Perkins, and the Blackhawks had a chance to score again for the lead before Nick Zachery fumbled at the Ritter 25 with just over 5 minutes remaining.

Hendrickson then drove the Raiders to the Sheridan 18 and picked up a first down on a 14-yard, fourth-down run. Three plays later, he passed 9 yards to Glen Lee and then ran in on the next play for the touchdown.

For the game, Hendrickson was 29-of-47, and his 423 yards passing was a Class A record and just 16 yards short of the all-class record 439 by 2A's Jake Schiff of Evansville Mater Dei in 2001.

Zachery, trying to lead Sheridan to a record-tying fourth championship, rushed for 214 yards but twice lost the ball on fumbles. His first fumble didn't hurt the Blackhawks — he intercepted a pass by Hendrickson two plays later to set up the tying touchdown by Perkins — but the second fumble set up Ritter's winning drive.

Ritter, twice a champion and five times a runner-up, was a model of efficiency in the first half, scoring touchdowns on four drives of less than 2 minutes each. A fifth possession, which reached the Sheridan 1 after a 67-yard pass from Hendrickson to John Shockley, ended with a fumble, and the Raiders' last drive ended at the 17 before Brett Spack missed a 35-yard field goal try with 6 seconds left in the half.

Hendrickson passed for 338 yards in the first half alone, which broke the Class A championship record 279 by former Ritter quarterback Nick Purichia in a loss to Sheridan two years ago. He completed his first nine attempts, including Tyrone Walker's one-handed grabs of 16 yards and then 20 yards for the first touchdown on the opening drive of the game.

Sheridan relied almost completely on its running game behind Zachery, whose 22-yard gain set up Brent Hume's first TD run that tied the game briefly midway through the first quarter.

But Ritter struck quickly again, and a 40-yard pass to Walker took the Raiders to the Sheridan 25, and six plays later, Hendrickson hit Shockley from 2 yards out for the go-ahead score. Ritter then recovered an onside kick and moved to the Blackhawks' 3-yard line in five plays. Hendrickson, shaken on a hard tackle, left the game briefly, and Shockley ran in for another TD and a 19-7 lead.

Hume, who received the Indiana High School Athletic Association Class A Eskew Award for mental attitude, added a 1-yard touchdown run for Sheridan early in the second quarter. Then after Shockley's third TD on a 33-yard reception from Hendrickson, Sheridan pulled within 27-20 on a fourth-down 23-yard pass from Perkins to Zachery. It was only the third completion for Perkins all season, and all three were for touchdowns.