Gallery of newspaper photos at bottom of article
(BATESVILLE, Ind.) – The Batesville football team has a long history with Heritage Hills that dates back more than 20 years.
While the two teams are on the opposite sides of the state, Heritage Hills has gotten the best of the Bulldogs in each of their six previous meetings.
Batesville hopes to avenge the past with a win to send them to the State Championship this Friday.
The first meeting between the two teams took place in 2001, which was the season after former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler graduated from Heritage Hills.
The Bulldogs were led in 2001 by current BHS assistant coach Ed Bohman, along with quarterback Robbie Wilson, Stephen Meyer and Clayton Balser, Scott Kreuzman, Bryan Salyer and Don Bonelli.
The season ended for Batesville after a 23-11 loss.
“We have not seen a team with that much speed, especially on offense,” former Batesville coach Eric Heppner told the Batesville’s Herald-Tribune’s Bryan Helvie in 2001.
The two teams would meet again in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
It was that meeting 20 years ago that was a true heartbreaker for the Bulldogs.
Heritage Hills was ranked #1 in Class 3A football and the Bulldogs were hosting them at home.
It was a defensive battle with Heritage Hills winning the game 3-0 on November 13, 2004.
“The gutsy performance by the Bulldogs gave them a chance to win. It was primarily a well prepared defensive game plan that seemed to have the Patriots on their heels,” Helvie wrote at the time.
The most recent meeting between the two squads was last year at Batesville. The game came down to the wire as the Bulldogs fell 24-21.
What’s ahead:
Southeast Indiana is rallying behind the Bulldogs as they will travel to Heritage Hills with the goal of upsetting the 1-loss Patriots on Friday.
The game will be available to watch through IHSAA TV for those unable to attend. You can click here for a link to the stream.
IMPORTANT NOTE: IHSAA TV is the only place to watch the game through live streaming. It is typical to find scam accounts claiming to show the game on social media.
If you want to watch the game from home, do not click a link to any other website than https://www.ihsaatv.org.
Here are photos that appeared in the Batesville Herald-Tribune following Batesville/ Heritage Hills games from 2001-2005:
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