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September 7, 2012

GAME OF THE WEEK: New Albany, BNL in unfamiliar territory

Bulldogs showing signs of turning things around

By GREG MENGELT greg.mengelt@newsandtribune.com

NEW ALBANY — Last year, Bedford North Lawrence won as many championships as New Albany won games.

Just a season ago, the Stars put an exclamation point on a great year with the first sectional championship in BNL history. New Albany, on the other hand, got its lone win on Sept. 23, 21-6 over Madison.

My how things have changed in just one year.

New Albany (2-1, 1-0 Hoosier Hills Conference) has already doubled its win output, beating Providence in its season debut and throttling Jennings County, 42-13 in its HHC opener last Friday.

Just being in part of the News and Tribune “Game of the Week” is a sign that the Bulldogs are turning things around.

“We’re winning some games and getting some attention,” New Albany second-year coach Charlie Fields said. “That’s what we’re striving for.”

After watching film of the Bulldogs, Bedford coach Bret Szabo says he can see why New Albany is having newfound success.

“They look well-coached, they look energetic, they look physical and they look poised,” said the 10th-year head coach, who has amassed a 57-41 record at BNL. “I know they will be excited to host us. We expect a challenge.

The Stars (0-3, 0-1), who have finished in the top three in the HHC in each of the past eight seasons, are still winless through three weeks after losses to Bloomington South, Bloomington North and Jeffersonville.

“We’re just not playing real smart football,” Szabo said. “But I’ve really liked what I’ve seen from our players. There are no hanging heads, no finger pointing. I think we’ve addressed some issues and I think we’ll continue to get better.”

Fields hopes not too much better too soon. In fact, he doesn’t think the Stars have looked bad at all despite their record.  

“Make no mistake about it, they’re the best 0-3 team in Southern Indiana,” he said.

Fields has the utmost respect for Szabo and sees a correlation between his coaching career and Szabo’s.

Szabo was a longtime assistant coach before taking over a BNL program that had very little recent success.

After taking over, Szabo’s first team went 1-9. In the second season, the Stars took off and haven’t had a losing season since.

Sound familiar?

“Coach Szabo has done a tremendous job with that program,” Fields said. “The turnaround he has made — always having his team in the upper echelon of the conference — if we can get our program to where theirs is, year-in and year-out, we would be very happy with ourselves.”

Fields wants his team to remember one thing heading into tonight’s game: the Bedford squad his Bulldogs can expect will look more like the one that won last year’s sectional championship, not the one that is currently 0-3.

“They are the sectional champions until someone beats them. They’ve been where we want to go,” Fields said. “They’re going to make us earn every step, and that’s a great challenge for us. We’re excited for it.”

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