Pirate Pride was running rampant throughout Charlestown last week as businesses had messages to the football team and black Pirate flags lined Market Street. Signs of the Pirates’ 2007 MSC Championship also adorned Market Street as Charlestown prepared to welcome the No. 1 Patriots of Heritage Hills.
    The Patriots arrived to Dutch Reis field around 7 p.m. last Friday night for the scheduled 8 p.m. kick-off. Heritage Hills was greeted with thousands of the Pirate Nation as the bleachers overflowed. Officials at Charlestown High even brought in additional bleachers for the highly anticipated match-up of the No. 1 Patriots and the No. 3 Pirates. The additional bleachers were even filled to capacity as many fans chose to fill the fence line to cheer on their hometown team.
    Both teams held perfect 10-0 records heading into the match-up with the winner advancing to the Sectional 23 championship.
    The Patriots proved to outlast the Pirates as they took the 42-24 win. Charlestown finished 10-1 on the season and earned their first outright Mid Southern Conference title since 1989.
    "We didn’t get beat by a team tonight. We got beat by a powerhouse," stated first year head coach Jason Hawkins after the Pirates loss. He went on to call the Heritage Hills program a dynasty saying that is what he wants to build at Charlestown.
    "Their coach (Bob Clayton) has coached them for 30 years. He has 280 wins," Hawkins said to his team and the massive number of fans who engulfed the team in the traditional circle after the ballgame.
    The Pirates took the opening kick-off and drove down the field. The drive was capped off by a Craig Brown field goal at the 7:58 mark of the first half.
    Charlestown enjoyed the lead for 18 seconds as the Patriots drove down field in just one play. Senior Andrew Lubbehusen scampered 65 yards for the Heritage Hills touchdown. Tyler Garmon tacked on the extra point for the 7-3 advantage at the 7:40 mark.
    Heritage Hills forced Charlestown to punt their next possession.
    Quarterback Tony Butcher kept the ball to run 55 yards for the Patriot touchdown. Lubbehusen added the two point conversion for the 15-3 Patriot lead.
    The Pirates answered with a 50 yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Andrew Smith to classmate James Kendrick. Brown’s extra point was good to pull the Pirates within five, 15-10, at the 1:22 mark.
    The score would prove to be the final one in the first quarter.
    Heritage Hills extended the lead back to eight, 18-10, on a 35-yard field goal by Garmon.
    Charlestown’s Smith was then picked off by Heritage Hill’s Travis Terry putting the Patriots deep into Charlestown territory.
    The Patriots would capitalize on the turnover when Butcher would hook up with Kraig Gogel. Garmon tacked on the extra point for the 25-10 Patriot advantage.
    Heritage Hills got the ball back one last time in the half as Garmon nailed a 22-yard field goal.
    The Patriots enjoyed the 28-10 halftime advantage.
    The Pirates attempted an on-side kick to start the second half. The trickery worked to their advantage as Smith recovered the kick.
    Smith hooked up with classmate Stephen Grayson in the back corner of the endzone with an eight yard touchdown pass. Brown again split the uprights to cut the Heritage Hills lead to 11, 28-17.
    The teams traded punts on the next possessions before the Patriot’s Lubbehusen found the endzone from 10 yards out. Garmon’s extra point was good for the 35-17 Patriot advantage.
    The Pirates would find the endzone one final time on the season as Smith found junior Damon Vest for the 20 yard touchdown strike. Brown nailed the extra point attempt to end the scoring for the Pirates as Heritage Hills held the 35-24 lead at the end of the third stanza.
    The Patriots’ Derrick Hagedorn dove into the endzone from one yard out before Garmon hit the extra point attempt at the 4:44 mark. The score would prove to be the last one of the night.
    The No. 1 Heritage Hills Patriots ended Charlestown’s dream season 42-24.
    "I want us to be like Brownstown Central on Friday nights, it’s a family tradition to come out and watch the game," Hawkins stated. "I want to get this program the same way Heritage Hills is."
    The Pirates will lose 12 seniors to graduation from this year’s conference championship team. Seniors Andrew Smith, Jeff Twigg, Colin Nash, James Kendrick, Bowman Thrasher, Dustin Wheeler, Travis DeMars, Julio Labra, Adam Caudill, Craig Brown, Jon Roederer and Stephen Grayson laced up their cleats and put on their pads and dark royal blue home jerseys for the last time as they led the team onto the field at Dutch Reis Field to open the ballgame.
    "I am proud of the kids. We are going to miss them. We’re losing 12 seniors and they all contributed all year," Hawkins praised.
    After the ballgame while in the team circle Hawkins praised the play of his entire team and thanked them for their hard work and dedication.
    "Thank you. Thank you. I love you guys," Hawkins stated holding back tears. "You guys seem like my sons. You all mean a lot to me."
    Hawkins added, "It was a great experience for me. This is what I have been looking for my whole life."
    Several of the Pirate seniors were quick to answer how it felt to win just four games in three years and then going undefeated their final year as a Pirate on the gridiron.
    "Wow!, it’s been a crazy ride," stated Stephen Grayson, a senior wide receiver. "I enjoyed all four seasons."
    Quarterback Andrew Smith stated, "This has been the best year ever and it is sad to see it come to an end."
    Senior linebacker Colin Nash stated, "Coach came here and he believed in us. He believed in our work ethic. He believed in our pride. He showed us how to score. He showed us how to win and he taught us to be men."
    Bowman Thrasher, a senior defensive end stated, "This is probably the best team I’ve ever been a part of with our closeness. The coaches used our strengths and avoided our weaknesses. The coaching staff believed in us and taught us to believe in ourselves."
    Hawkins concluded, "When I came here everybody told me that these kids were quitters but they never quit on me. These kids didn’t quit."
    The Pirates recorded 256 yards with 143 rushing and 113 passing yards on 59 plays including 3 touchdowns.
    Junior Cameron Metzger tallied 120 yards on 24 carries. He ended the season leading Charlestown with 1,884 yards on 235 carries for an average of 8.02 yards per carry.
    Smith threw for 114 yards and three touchdowns. He completed 7 of 16 passes.
    On the season, Josh Graham tallied 517 yards on 69 carries for an average of 7.49 yards per carry. Smith recorded 54 yards on 39 carries while Mike Blackford earned 123 yards on 28 carries with an average of 4.39 yards per carry.
    Vest tallied 278 yards on 29 carries for 9.59 yards per carry.
    Smith completed 93 of 158 passes on the season for 1,452 yards.
    Grayson tallied 604 yards on 31 catches for an average of 19.48 yards per catch. Kendrick recorded 172 yards on 10 catches for an average of 17.2 yards per catch. Vest had 349 yards on 26 catches for an average of 13.42 yards per catch.
    Brown connected on 53 of 58 extra point attempts and was 3 for 6 on field goal attempts for a total of 62 points on the season.
    The Pirates ran 650 plays for 2,884 yards on the ground and 1,452 yards in the air for a total of 4,336 yards for 59 touchdowns. Charlestown averaged 394.2 yards per ballgame.

    Over the past 10 years, the Southern Indiana Visitor Center at Exit 0 in Jeffersonville has had a profound impact on local tourism, according to Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau Executive Director Jim Keith.
    "We have been helping visitors to our community find lodging, restaurants, retail centers, and recreational facilities, an in so doing, have been part of the growth and economic development of the community," he said.
    The Bureau held a commemoration of the anniversary of the opening on October 24, which was attended by around 100 people.
    As part of the festivities, the bureau invited authors Carl Kramer, PhD and Mary Kagin Kramer to participate in a book signing for their latest book, a history of Clark County entitled This Place We Call Home.
    Keith said the books have been selling well at the Visitor Center and Howard Steamboat Museum as the Christmas season approaches.

    The New Washington High School cheerleading squad competed at the Indiana Cheerleading Regional Championships on Saturday, October 27.
    This is the third time that a New Washington cheer squad has gone to Regional and the first time to advance to State!
    The cheerleading competition is sponsored by the Indiana Association of High School Principals (IASP). All Indiana High School cheerleading squads are encouraged to participate.
    The competition is divided into classes 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A. The Mustangs are 1A and compete in the 1A division. The cheerleading squad has been working hard for the past three months preparing for the Regional and State Championships. Their hard work has paid off. They will compete in the High School State Championship Cheerleading Competition this Saturday, November 3 at New Castle Chrysler High School in New Castle, Indiana.
    The cheerleaders on the squad are seniors Heather Gill and Samantha Sarver, juniors Sam Callis and Kasey Curry, sophomores Madison Tuell and Chantel Hammond and freshmen Kasey Gill, Erica Reis, Cheyenne Hester, Krissi Cochran and Rebecca Wolfley. The squad is coached by fifth year head coach Emily Oliver-Jones.
    Coach Jones said she could not be more proud of this squad.
    "We have wanted to go to state for the past three years and this year we made it happen! In cheerleading you only have two minutes and 30 seconds to give everything you got, there is no going back and redoing or making up for mistakes that may have been made. Our girls did it! As a coach, I must say that it’s not all about the trophy or even being the Champions or trophy along the way, so be it. My goal is to continue to build the cheerleading program for the Mustangs and I could not ask for a more talented group of cheerleaders and supportive group of parents to make this happen."

    The Charlestown Lions Club will hold its semi-annual pancake breakfast this Saturday, November 3 at the Charlestown Community Building from 7 to 10 a.m.
   The menu includes pancakes, sausage, eggs, orange juice, milk and coffee.
   Sit down and dine or carry out your breakfast. The cost is $5.50 for adults and $3 for children.
   The Lions Club has been serving the community since 1934 and uses the funds raised through this event and others to support local, national and international civic programs.
   For more information contact John Spencer at 812-256-0492.