EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) In the long, storied history of Reitz football, it’s hard to pick out one team that stands above the rest. But the 2007 Panthers deserve to be in that discussion, and may even be considered one of Indiana’s all the time great teams.
(John Hart)
“It was so fun and so unique. And it wasn’t just because that was the first one I’d been involved in. But it was just, there was just moments where things clicked.”
The ’07 Panthers are one of the most prolific scoring teams and Reitz history and gave the school it’s first ever 15-0season. The Panthers were led by that year’s Indiana Mr. Football, Paul Macintosh. Reitz rolled through the regular season, and then survived one point wins in regional and semi-state en-route to the school’s first state championship since 1971.
(Paul McIntosh)
“We definitely knew after we beat Cathedral because we we could see on film that Cathedral was a very, very strong team. So once we beat them, we knew that we had the opportunity to win the whole
thing.”
For any player and coach, it’s hard to pick out just one team that stands out from the rest. Not true for the ’07 Panthers.
(Paul McIntosh)
“With that team, I think we were the definition of a team. Everybody was on the same page board and pulled the same direction. And yeah, I mean, I can’t think of a better team than I’ve ever been on a better part of.”
(John Hart)
That team in particular, was really special. Usually there’s animosity amongst the team somewhere. I never felt that with that team. They didn’t care who got the credit. They didn’t care who was leading them. They didn’t care who said what. It was just about trying to figure out a way to win.”
(This story was originally published on October 19, 2021)
