PREP FOOTBALL: Northridge celebrates season, accomplishments
Dec. 2—MIDDLEBURY — A large contingent of family, friends and fans came out to support the Northridge Raiders football team Wednesday night for all it accomplished throughout its improbable run to last Saturday's Class 4A state championship game.
For the first time in school history, Northridge's football program made it to Indianapolis. It was a monumental feat for a school that had rarely seen extended success on the gridiron.
"These guys, the coaches and players, they deserve so much credit," Northridge athletic director Ryan Bales said. "Being around sports for most of my life, I've always valued the underdog. ... Those are the teams people love to rally around. In all my years of coaching, playing and just being around sports, I don't know that I've ever seen a story like what these guys did this season."
In front of hundreds of people packed inside Northridge's gymnasium, the Raiders football team walked out from behind the bleachers one-by-one to a large round of applause. Once the players did their slow lap around the court, placing their postseason trophies on a table near midcourt in the process, they sat down and listened to what Bales, head coach Chad Eppley and others had to say about their magnificent season.
Arguably the loudest roar came for the head coach himself. As Bales handed Eppley the microphone, the cheers continued to carry on. As the appreciation from everyone standing in the bleachers continued to grow, so did Eppley's smile as he waited to speak.
"Once we got into sectionals, we knew it was a brand new season for us," Eppley said. "We got to reset ourselves, and I told the guys that nobody in our sectional plays in a conference as tough as ours. Without the NLC, I don't know that we make that run. ... Realistically, I can't tell you how much these kids mean to us as coaches. I think they really set the bar high.
"I talked with them at the end of the game on Saturday and told them that the bar is now set for all the younger guys in Middlebury. We did something that nobody else did, which was make it to state. Now, for all the youth club kids, the junior high kids and the freshman players that are here, it's up to you guys to see how hard you can work. Let's put some more numbers up on that banner."
As Eppley handed the mic to a couple key members of his senior class — Evan Kaehr and Micah Hochstetler — both of them made sure to thank a variety of people. Kaehr thanked his parents and coaches first. But at one point during his speech, he had the junior varsity and scout players stand up to give them special recognition for helping the varsity starters get to a state championship.
Hochstetler thanked some of the same people as Kaehr, but he made sure to single out Eppley during his address to the gym.
"The amount of belief he had in all of us was just incredible," said Hochstetler of Eppley. "Just the way we'd be able to communicate with each other was unlike any other coach I'd ever had before. We could be so transparent in what we were thinking. ... Just the amount of belief he instilled in us from day one was just incredible."
Once the speeches were over, everyone in the gym clapped to the school's fight song in unison before 'Sweet Caroline' serenaded over the gymnasium one final time.
It was a special ceremony fit for a special team that brought history to the tiny community of Middlebury.
Evan Lepak can be reached at evan.lepak@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 240326. Follow him on Twitter @EvanMPLepak.