INDIANAPOLIS | Lowell was not just the only Region team playing during Thanksgiving weekend's state championship games at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Red Devils had another thing that isolated them from eight of the nine other teams competing on Indiana's biggest stage.

Lowell was one of two teams that did not run a spread offense, or a variation of it. Coming into the five state finals, Class A's Lafayette Central Catholic and Fountain Central, 2A's Fort Wayne Luers, 3A's West Lafayette and Evansville Memorial, 4A's Evansville Reitz, and 5A's Carmel and Warren Central each threw for at least 1,322 yards.

Lowell threw for 704 yards coming into Saturday's game against Reitz, which the Devils lost 23-9. Two years ago, Lowell fell to Reitz 33-14.

Much of Indiana is playing basketball on grass, with receivers spread all over the place and strong-armed quarterbacks throw missiles downfield. Only 2A's Monrovia, which lost to Luers, joined Lowell as teams truly dominated by run offenses.

Lowell coach Kirk Kennedy's power offense is suited well for getting to Indianapolis, where his program has reached three of the last five years.

"We're not changing what we do," Kennedy said. "We try to control the game. That's what we try to do every game."

But on a perfect turf with no weather interference, it is becoming clear that a power running offensive team must play a perfect game against a talented spread team. Otherwise, it's second-place red medals.

That's what happened Saturday. Reitz spread Lowell's defense thin and made three big plays. Two came in the first quarter, and that had Lowell scrambling for the rest of the game, just like two years ago.

"We just couldn't stop their big plays," Lowell quarterback Ray Skamay said. "We're not getting away from our philosophy of Red Devils football."

"We want to pound the ball and keep pounding it," Devils running back Brandon Grubbe said. "We just got behind too quick."

Reitz scored at 10:29 of the first quarter when Matt McIntosh hit Cuda Dimmett on a 42-yard scoring pass. At 3:55 of the first quarter, on a fleaflicker, Jeffrey Hudson connected with Dimmett for a 46-yard score.

Against an athletic, spread scheme, getting behind two scores in the first 12 minutes was too much from which to recover. Reitz had 354 yards of total offense, while Lowell had 304, including 289 on the ground.

"With what we do, we have to focus on every possession," Kennedy said. "Our wiggle room is so small."

Yes, Skamay rushed for 75 yards on 10 carries. But during the team's long runs, every Lowell player was caught from behind. Lowell's four trips into the red zone resulted in just one touchdown. It's hard to win this way.

This is the Region's dilemma. Old-school vs. new-school. Blue medals vs. red medals.

If Lowell came out with a Red Gun offense next year, making it to Indy might be that much tougher.

"We competed much better this time, and I'm proud if the way the kids fought," Kennedy said. "We got beat by two long passes and a trick play."

No, Lowell isn't going to change its style. But the Red Devils have to bring perfection to the state capital the next time they come.

Right now the deck is stacked against them.

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at steve.hanlon@nwi.com.