The year 1974 was still four years before I would move to Indiana, so the Bears relationship with St. Joe’s in northwest Indiana was already a piece of history to me when I arrived in Indianapolis.
I had a vague memory, too, that St. Joe’s was where Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodger star Gil Hodges had played his college ball, a memory that was reinforced by signage I saw outside the school’s baseball diamond when I arrived there on Sept.7, 2013, for the Pumas’ season-opening football game against state rival Valparaiso University.
The Pumas had a 6-5 record the previous season, which included a a 36-34 win over the Crusaders at Valparaiso, also in the season-opener. With this being the first game of the new season, it was difficult to gauge how the home school would fare in 2013.
Valpo – the shorthand Hoosiers often use to refer to Valparaiso – had an abysmal 2012 campaign. The Crusaders finished with a 1-10 record, and most of the losses were routs. Final scores included 59-0, 45-17, 51-14, 56-17, 45-0, 44-7 and (gulp) 76-24. The one victory, 41-24, came at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C., which itself had suffered through a 1-10 campaign that included eight losses of 20 or more points.
As the final score of this game in 2013 indicates, Valpo gave St. Joe’s all it could handle. The schools each scored on touchdown passes in the first quarter, and each team missed the point-after kick. Valpo’s score came on a 73-yard pass from Eric Hoffman to Fred Gladney, while St. Joe’s TD came on a 9-yard pass from senior quarterback Billy VandeMerkt to red-shirt senior wide receiver Julian Walker.
The Pumas scored twice in the second quarter, once on a pass reception by Walker and the other on a run by red-shirt junior Braxton Shelton, but again they missed extra-point conversions.
Valpo closed to within 18-13 with another TD pass with 43 seconds before halftime. Valpo took the lead, 23-18, in the third quarter on a 37-yard field goal by freshman kicker Jacob Newman and a 12-yard run by sophomore running back Brandon Hall. The Crusaders’ defense kept St. Joe’s scoreless in the quarter, peaking after the field goal score, when defensive linemen Nick Moffitt and Brandon Doepke each stopped a St. Joe ball carrier, on third and fourth downs, while trying to gain 1 yard for a first down.
It set up a dramatic fourth quarter scurry by both offenses.
St. Joe’s started the drama when Walker caught his third touchdown pass of the game – for 18 yards – from VandeMerkt, but the Pumas failed on a two-point conversion, so St. Joe’s lead was a precarious 24-23. The Crusaders punted on their next possession, and St. Joe’s struck again quickly – this time on a 76-yard pass from VandeMerkt to senior wide receiver Alphonso Hines. The Pumas finally succeeded on an extra-point conversion kick to take a 31-23 lead with 10:44 left in the game.
The Crusaders responded with a six-play 75-yard drive, culminating with a short pass from Hoffman to junior wide receiver Tanner Kuramata, who scampered 58 yards for the score. Hoffman and Kuramata connected again on the two-point conversion pass to tie the score at 31 with 8:08 to play.
It was the Pumas’ turn to grind it out on a long drive. After nine plays that consumed 3 minutes and 31 seconds of clock, sophomore Gavin Voss kicked a 29-yard field goal to put St. Joe’s ahead 34-31 with 4:51 remaining.
Valpo got the ball into St. Joe’s territory on its next possession, but on a fourth-down play with 12 yards to go, Hoffman threw to junior wide receiver Kent Warren, who could gain only nine yards, three short of a first down. St. Joe’s ran out the clock to preserve the win.
St. Joseph’s would finish 2013 with a 7-3 record. In the next three years, the Pumas would have campaigns of 8-3 and 5-6 (twice) before the school went public with news, as mentioned in this book’s introduction, that it would close at the end of the 2017 school year because of extraordinary financial issues. It has not reopened as a traditional four-year college since.
Like in 2012, Valparaiso finished 2013 with a 1-10 record, with its only win – in overtime – again coming against Campbell University, this time at home. And like in 2012, most of the losses were by huge margins – 69-10, 37-0, 35-21, 42-28, 58-14, 72-12 and 45-20. Its best chance for a second win had been the opener at St. Joe’s.
In subsequent years, Valpo tallied season records of 4-8 in 2014, 2-9 in 2015, 4-7 in 2016, 6-5 in 2017, 2-9 in 2018, 1-11 in 2019, 4-2 in the abbreviated COVID season of 2020, 4-7 in 2021, 5-7 in 2022, and 3-8 in 2023.
Above and below: There were several shots I liked from the group taken as the teams prepared to take the field before the start of the game. Several not seen here (but can be found in the gallery at SmugMug), for example, have one of the Pumas team leaders leading the full squad at the south end zone in swaying to and fro in a pep chant. That came after the Pumas' captains jogged onto the field (above) to meet the Crusaders' captains at midfield for the coin toss to determine who would have possession to start the game. The captains are, from left, Drew Byrd, Billy VandeMerkt, Gary Yeoman and Trent Hall. Below, after the St. Joseph's players marched onto the field, the cheerleaders and mascot followed close behind. In the batch of burst shots I fired off, I lucked out in getting this nice capture in one of the frames.
St. Joseph's quarterback Billy VandeMerkt, shown in the photo leading off the post and again in the image above. In the photo above, VandeMerkt managed to elude this tackle and was brought down a few yards later by another Valparaiso defender.
Above: Valparaiso running back Brandon Hall scored on a nice 12-yard end run in the third quarter that gave the Crusaders a 23-18 lead.
Above and below: VandeMerkt (9) and wide receive Julian Walker (5) connected often; 10 of VandeMerkt's 28 completions -- including three for touchdowns -- went to the red-shirt senior from Southport.
Above and below: St. Joe's had only 109 yards rushing on 34 carries. Kobi Cook (8) led all Puma runners with 39 yards on 11 carries.
Above and below: Dropped passes stood out in this game. On the St. Joe's side, Tyler Callaghan had this pass in his hands ... before it slipped out for an incompletion.
Above and next three below: Returning the favor for Valparaiso was Fred Gladney, who was wide open for this sure touchdown, only to let it slip through as well. Moments later on the sidelines, a teammate gave Gladney an encouraging word. I don't know the Valpo players to know for sure who the teammate was -- and I didn't capture the player's jersey number -- but I believe it was the quarterback, Eric Hoffman. Fortunately for the Crusaders, not long afterward Kent Warren would haul in a TD pass from Hoffman, enabling the visitors to trim St. Joe's margine to 18-13 just before the half.
Above: Brandon Hall does his best balancing act to stay afoot after a St. Joe's defender tripped him up. Hall succeeded for a few more yards before two other defenders brought him down. Hall gained 34 yards on 5 carries on the day.
Above and below: Valpo's Tanner Kuramata leaves four Puma defenders in his wake as he heads downfield during a 58-yard scamper after catching a short pass from Eric Hoffman in the fourth quarter. He drags a Crusader into the end zone with him.
Above: St. Joe's head football coach Corey Sanders having an animated discussion with the field judge.
Above and below: St. Joe's Chris Edgerton (21) deflects this pass intended for Valpo's Tanner Kuramata.
Above: Edgerton (on ground) and Kuramata were together again for another missed pass late in the game.
Above: A recurring theme in the photos in this post is a loose football; here's another.
Above and below: The game stopped several times to tend to injuries on the field. The one to fifth-year senior offensive lineman Bill Bodzianowski (above) of Valpo appeared to be the most serious. Below, St. Joe's staff tends to offensive lineman Brandon Good along the sidelines after a play.
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