Scheib key part of first Warren state title

FC football coach Lance Scheib models a jersey he wore while playing football at Warren Central and displays a t-shirt presented to players after the Warriors won the 1984 state championship. FTONEWS.com photo.

Lance Scheib remembers it like it was just yesterday. But, at the same time, Franklin Central's enthusiastic fifth-year head football coach finds it hard to believe that it was actually more than two decades ago.

With FC preparing to open the 2005 football campaign against Scheib's alma mater, Warren Central, it is understandable that he might – at least momentarily – entertain the fond recollections of when he and a g roup of close-knit teammates transformed the Warrior football program into a storied memory.

By the same token, Scheib recently celebrated his 39 th birthday (on Saturday, August 13), an occasion which may have served as a reminder of just how long ago it really was when Warren Central captured the school's first-ever state football championship with a 28-8 victory over Hobart.

That 1984 state championship game is steeped with so much historical significance that documented accounts might figuratively fill today's 8,000-seat Warren Central football stadium, one featuring an artificial playing rug and a multiple-tiered press box. The Warren team, itself, is regarded as one of the top five football teams in the annals of Indiana prep football.

A standout receiver, Scheib was a key ingredient of that high-octane offensive juggernaut of the mid-1980s, along with golden-armed quarterback Jeff George and an offensive lineman and co-captain named Jason Whitlock, who for some years now has been creating water-cooler conversation almost daily as an often controversial sports writer in Kansas City.

“It's really hard to believe that playing on Warren's state championship football team was 20 years ago,” Scheib admitted recently while going through a treasured box containing old Warren Central athletic gear – mostly jerseys relating to his days on the football team, but others denoting basketball and track participation as well. One of his favorite memorabilia items is the appropriately inscribed t-shirt presented to Warrior players after they had won the 1984 state grid title.

“What I like to recall most about winning that state championship,” Scheib said, “is that I can say I played on a football team that won its final game. Not too many high school athletes can make that claim in any sport. That is something that has always remained special for me.”

There were many facets of that 1984 State Finals game that were historic from the standpoint of Indiana high school football lore, and some noteworthy accomplishments bearing the name of Lance Scheib that are still part of the existing IHSAA football record books.

A really big deal for the teams and players involved in the four classes of IHSAA competition in 1984 was this round of State Finals games would be the first-ever contests played in the Hoosier Dome, now known as the RCA Dome.

“Playing in the Dome was a really huge thing,” Scheib recalled. “We had never played indoors before. We got to go up to the Colts' training complex (located at that time on the grounds of the former Fall Creek Elementary School on Kessler Boulevard) one day to practice in their indoor facility.”

Adjusting to the indoor conditions of the 19-story downtown Indianapolis facility built for professional football and coping with the emotional aspect of playing for a state championship on such a big stage were very real concerns for Scheib and his teammates. “I really had trouble breathing in there; I couldn't seem to get my wind. I even had cottonmouth during the game.”

What really turned out to be breathtaking, however, was the play of Warren Central, including the record-setting performance by Scheib. The senior latched onto six passes tossed his way by junior rifleman George, including three that wound up as scoring aerials in the 28-8 Warrior victory.

What remains remarkable is that Scheib's trio of touchdown catches against Hobart still represents an overall State Finals record, with no receiver in any class ever having caught more than two scoring passes during a championship contest. Only Scheib!

Among Class 4A records, Scheib still shares the standard for most catches (six) in a State Finals contest. In that same game, Hobart 's Nino Maggio also was on the receiving end of six successful passes. The mark was equaled when Goshen 's Mike Moon caught six airborne launches during a 24-10 victory over Franklin Central for the 1988 state championship. That game marked the first of three consecutive State Finals appearances for FC, with the Flashes also finishing runner-up in the 1989 title game – losing to Hobart 17-7 –before topping the Brickies 34-14 in a repeat match-up for the 1990 crown.

Hobart 's game against Warren Central in 1984 began a run in which the Northwest Indiana school, directed by legendary coach Don Howell, appeared in seven State Finals games within a 10-year period.

In 1985, the IHSAA football playoff format was changed, with five classes of competition being adopted. Warren Central, competing in the largest classification, has the distinction of winning the last state title of the four-class format, and also the very first Class 5A state title of the new five-class format. With Scheib playing as a freshman at Purdue University , Warren Central – with Jeff George still firing strikes from his quarterback position – repeated its state championship run in 1985, topping Valparaiso 41-7.

Scheib quite vividly can still recount the events of that 1984 championship season and, in particular, the week of the title game. And the days following. For example:

• The incredible sight of frost on the ground at an early outdoor practice on Thanksgiving Day prior to the weekend game.
• The team's police escort on the day of the game from Warren Central High School to the Hoosier Dome in which a police car was “t-boned” at an intersection while trying to regulate downtown traffic.
• The huge game-day crowd that filled the entire lower level of the Hoosier Dome.
• Being singled out and recognized at church on Sunday morning – not too many hours after Warren Central had won its state title – by the minister at Calvary Temple Assembly of God.
• A convocation at school on Monday morning following the State Finals game in which the football team and student body celebrated the playoff success.

“I will always remember the philosophy we took through that entire season,” Scheib said. “We never ever talked about winning, but at the same time we never thought we could be beaten, either.”

The Warren Central offense spoke loudly enough for the Warriors, helping Coach Jerry Stauffer's contingent waltz past 14 consecutive opponents by an average margin of victory calculated at 38 points.

“Five plays was a long drive for us that season,” Scheib said matter-of-factly. “During the course of our 14 games, I don't remember playing at all in the fourth quarter in but maybe only four games. In fact, in that State Finals game our offense likely didn't play more than about 17 minutes.”

A unique part of the Warren Central offense resulted from the bond established between George and Scheib. It was chemistry developed between the two at a very early age.

“On about 70 percent of the plays in which Jeff and I hooked up on in high school, they came about on audibles at the line of scrimmage,” Scheib described. “We had been using hand signals ever since we played football together in grade school. And Coach Stauffer allowed us to continue with that all the way through high school. I guess he figured that if it wasn't broke, don't fix it.”

In case Scheib has trouble remembering his schoolboy exploits, he has the television tape of that 1984 State Finals game, one featuring the distinct voice of popular Indianapolis play-by-play announcer Jerry Baker and his color commentator for the day, Dick Dullaghan. The latter has produced more Indiana state football titles – one at Carmel and seven at Ben Davis – than any other coach in history, with the Ben Davis championships being secured following that memorable 1984 telecast involving Warren Central and Hobart.

But for a head football coach these days there are only a few moments available for reflection. Lance Scheib now proudly dons the colors of Franklin Central. And he would like nothing better than to be involved in adding another success chapter to the rather celebrated tradition of the Blue & White.

- FTONEWS.com -