INDIANAPOLIS – It was supposed to be a memorable trip to Indianapolis to play in the state title game for Lawrenceburg, but midway through the first quarter things grew forgettable for the Tigers.
The Lawrenceburg Tigers fell to the Concorida Lutheran Cadets 56-14 Saturday in their first appearance in the state game in 31 years.
The first of five first half touchdown passes thrown by Concordia Lutheran quarterback Peter Morrison was a ball that Lawrenceburg should have either knocked down or intercepted. It landed in the hands of sophomore Kamari Anderson-Drew and he finished off the 68-yard play for six points.
The first 24 minutes of football saw Lawrenceburg either a step behind, just a hair off or a shade behind the Cadets potent offense. The Tigers misery was Concordia’s overwhelming joy with a 35-0 advantage at halftime.
All Morrison did was set the record for passing touchdowns (four) and passing yards (319) in a Class 3A title championship game and tie the mark for total touchdown tosses in a title contest (five) at any level. The senior produced all of this in about a 15 minute span of the first half. The fairy tale start lifted Morrison gaudy numbers on the season to 3,923 yards and 51 touchdowns passing.
After the break things didn’t get much better with both of Lawrenceburg’s third quarter drives coming up empty. The Tigers came into the affair averaging 47 points. The Concordia defense held them scoreless through three stanzas. They had caged Lawrenceburg star runner Austin Bowling, the Red Rhino who came into the final with 52 rushing touchdowns. Bowling finished the night with 152 yards on 29 carries with no trips to the end zone.
Morrison opened the final period with his sixth touchdown pass of the game and second to Mallers. It put him in the record book all by himself. Of the eight scoring drives he led the Cadets on all were of 50 yards or more and done in three-and-a-half minutes or less. Morrison finished going 17-25 for 376 yards and the six scoring tosses.
Lawrenceburg finally got on the scoreboard with 8:12 left in the contest. Hunter Privett capped off a seven play 63 yard drive with a three-yard scoring run. That was followed by another Score by Concordia and then a last late touchdown by the Tigers to round out everything.
Lawrenceburg head coach Ryan Knigga told his heartbroken squad in his post game talk that he was proud the team had this opportunity.
"One game, one day is not going to define what you did for our program, what you did for our town, what you did for our school, what you did for our alumni," Knigga said. "You guys have woken up a lot of Tigers fans, and they are on the train."
CONCORDIA LUTHERAN 21-14-7-14-56
LAWRENCEBURG 0-0-0-14-14
C: Anderson-Drew 68 pass from Morrison (Morrison kick)
C: Anderson-Drew 32 pass from Morrison (Morrison kick)
C: Kerlegrand 18 pass from Morrison (Morrison kick)
C: Bordner 70 pass from Morrison (Morrison kick)
C: Mallers 38 pass from Morrison (Morrison kick)
C: Kerlegrand 20 run (Morrison kick)
C: Mallers 10 pass from Morrison (Kaschinske kick)
L: Privett 3 run (Hahn kick)
C: Kerlegrand 55 run (Kaschinske kick)
L: Rolfes 37 run (Hahn kick)
