Hope rebounds at Attica amid 3-year winless football slump

ATTICA, Ind. - Football practice is behind schedule at Lewis Bruce Jr. Field during a hot and sweltering afternoon in the first day of Week 2 for the Attica Ramblers.

One of the red and white school buses meant to commute players from campus to Lewis Bruce Field has broken down.

That leaves first-year Head Coach Derek Dean to ferry two sets of players 1.4 miles from the main campus to the football program's storied field.

This is just another of the pitfalls facing Attica, whose football team has lost 29 straight games since 2021. The Ramblers haven't tasted victory since beating North Vermillion in the IHSAA Class 1A sectional playoffs on Oct. 23, 2020.

Dean took over a program that was in ruin. Not only has Attica been losing, it's been doing so in demoralizing fashion. Only one of the 29 losses has come by single digits.

Attica, meanwhile, which has had four different coaches in the past four seasons, is taking a chance on Dean after two seasons at Frontier. Dean's first year saw Frontier go 4-6 in 2022 before bouncing back to 5-5 in 2023.

"These kids deserve to have the opportunity to win a football game, and they haven't gotten that chance because of multiple things. It's hard to win when there's no stability," Dean said.

The losses haven't kept senior quarterback and captain Dane Goris from quitting. Goris has been a team member for each loss and has still prepared for the next game.

More: Wrestling changed Attica student Aubrey Bartkowiak and created a contender

"I just really love football," Goris said. "And that makes it pretty easy to stay around even with all the difficulties and hardships we went through. Also, I love these guys like my brothers. I really do. And I don't think they know how much I really love them. They keep me around."

How did a program nestled in Fountain County with 14 straight winning seasons between 2007 and 2020 dissolve into such turmoil?

Economic factors, a scandal and lack of enrollment have all contributed to the recent years of debilitating defeats for the Ramblers.

But Attica holds onto hope it will rise again, with a brand-new stadium being built closer to campus and a long-term plan to rebuild the football program under Dean.

To understand the fall, it's important to look back at the history of who made Attica great at sports, first through the eyes, ears and memories of town Mayor Larry Grant.

Attica's proud history of winning

Grant can close his eyes and picture a time when the bleachers were sold out at football and basketball games.

Not only is Grant the town mayor, but he has also been Attica's play-by-play and public address announcer for over 30 years, calling games on the town's radio station, WFWR, 91.5 FM.

Grant's fondest memory involves Attica's 2001 state basketball game, capturing the action from the press box in Conseco Fieldhouse.

"We were down 20 points going to the fourth quarter, and I can remember Blue River Valley's principal going up and high-fiving everybody through the crowd about halfway through the fourth quarter," Grant said. "Next thing you know it, we are ahead. It was quite the turnaround."

Attica went on to win that 1A State Championship 64-62 in 2001.

Grant was also at Lucas Oil Stadium when Attica made its only state football championship appearance in 2000, a 1A loss to Adams Central 29-21. Leading the Ramblers was future Navy safety Josh Smith, who went on to become the leading tackler who helped the Midshipmen end their 22-year drought by capturing the Commander-in-Chief's trophy in 2003.

"I know when I was going into work at 6 o'clock in the morning and I'd see Josh heading out to the high school and shooting baskets before practice," Grant said. "He just had a work ethic and that showed in his military career at the academy and it rubbed off on kids here as well. He pulled them along with him."

More: This former Purdue women's basketball guard turned veterinarian rekindles love of basketball

Other noted alumni include 2008 Miss Indiana Basketball Brittany Rayburn. Rayburn ranks fifth all-time in Purdue history in 3-pointers and holds the single-game record beyond the arc. She netted 12 3-pointers against Minnesota on Jan. 12, 2012.

"What I found out was the people are hungry for a winner again," Dean recalled after he was hired and learned about Attica's proud sports history.

Decline in student population coupled with legal issues

Like many places, Attica experiences population increases and decreases based on shifts in the economy.

The steel industry has played a vital role in bringing jobs to the town, increasing the town's population and, in turn, the enrollment of the school.

"Our population is as low as it's been in the last 50 years here," Grant said. "We had several large industries in town. Harrison Steel Casings Company used to employ closer to 1,500 people. We probably have half that now."

Another major employer was Radio Materials Corp., which made ceramic capacitors that help store electrical energy in items like batteries.

"They employed about 300 people back in their day," Grant said.

Radio Materials Corp. went out of business in 2001 after decades of dumping hazardous chemicals into unlined pits was investigated by the EPA, in a letter published by the Center for Public Environmental Oversight in 2011.

RMC agreed to an investigation with the EPA but couldn't pay the costs to the rectify the contamination it had caused. Kraft Foods took the plant over and eventually paid $8.1 million to 130 residents in 2008 after groundwater mixed with the contaminants had seeped into homes.

Then came the dismissal of a former head coach who was sentenced in 2022 for committing domestic battery in 2021. The former coach went 0-7 during his last season in 2021.

Then when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the economies of small towns like Attica were shook.

Grant claims there are job opportunities at Harrison Steel but said the town lacks affordable places to live.

Driving along East Main Street, Attica's main drag, visitors are met by vacant business buildings, for-sale signs and a downtown lined with two-story high rises and empty and broken windows.

"We are in a housing crisis in town and we are trying to get more housing in town so that people can move here," Grant said. "Harrison is considering busing people in from outlying towns because there isn't any place for them to live here. So we are trying to address the housing situation, and that is first and foremost on my plate."

Grant, who graduated from Attica in 1978, said the losing has just happened more frequently than it used to.

"It's hard," Grant said. "You go to the games and you try and find some positives to talk about during those games, and they aren't too hard to see. Even though a lot of the football games and basketball games have had running clocks in the second half, you find those positives, dwell on those and try to build things up."

But with sports, there's always hope.

"We are still covering Attica, win, lose or draw," Grant said.

Positive red linings in a rough first act

Attica opened its season with a similar outcome Week 1, when it was decimated by Culver Community 42-0.

The offense finished with a total of 29 yards, including -29 rushing yards. But there was a difference in those previous losses, something Grant and other Rambler faithful noticed.

"He seems to have the players' respect," Grant said.

That respect is what brought the 28 players back to the field on this Monday afternoon, no matter what bus they were in.

The 28 players in practice doubled the number of players from last year's team.

"We recruited the hallways like crazy, making this a fun thing people want to be a part of," Dean said. "Things aren't going to be the same as they were in the past. We are going to do things different, and we are going to get on this winning track."

Incremental momentum is being built from within at practice. Offensive players and defensive players blocked and tackled with urgency.

More: Attica wrestler Boden Rice inspired by coaches heading into Logansport regional

When incorporating an offensive play, Dean demands each detail be performed appropriately and with detail.

If there's a misstep, players run a quick 20-yard sprint before heading back to snap the ball and self-correct.

Dean has incentivized effort within his ranks by giving out pancake stickers whenever a blocker takes his hands and arms and buries a tackler into the turf that results in a positive gain for his team.

And after the pancakes are served on the field, he wants his players to take satisfaction in both the effort and result.

"I want us to celebrate more and be happy when one of our teammates makes a play," Dean told his team. "I want to see joy and I want to see passion."

Goris feels the confidence of his team shift.

"More of our guys want to be here," Goris said. "We like the way Coach Dean runs this team and the way he runs practice. There was a lot of guys that didn't want to come out at first that ended up coming out. Guys from last year that didn't want to be here, I hear them talk and that they like Coach Dean. They want to be out here playing football."

New stadium heightens enthusiasm

Attica is also building a new athletic stadium with artificial turf that is on campus instead of having to drive an extra five to 10 minutes to get to practice.

The new stadium without a name will become the Ramblers' home for football and track and replace the storied Lewis Bruce Stadium on South Perry Street.

Although the stadium bleachers haven't been completed, early looks show a playable turf with a black and red shine in the end zone.

"The goal is to get at least one game on that field for these seniors by the end of this season," Dean said. "It is something that is very important to our athletic director (Dusty Goodwin) and superintendent (Matt Williams). This place has a lot of history, a lot of tradition and has seen a lot of good teams come through here."

Dean, while wanting to pay homage to Lewis Bruce Stadium, made it clear he wants to build a new tradition of winning.

"A lot of people around town love this place, but I've also said that as I've come in here, I want to start a new chapter and new era of Attica football," Dean said. "So being able to honor our past and close this place down hopefully with a win the last time we are on the field here and get to open that amazing new facility, that's beautiful."

What a win would mean

More than 1,400 days and four Super Bowls have passed since Attica won its last game.

"I think our best days are still ahead," Grant said. "I'm not looking back, even though I'm proud of what we've accomplished over the last several years and with the teams we've had. We've got the right people in place to move toward that."

The wait time has been especially painful for Goris. He has witnessed every single loss.

Each one left a dent on his pride. But the losses never broke him. Now he believes Attica is closer than ever to end its streak of futility with a win.

"It would be the world, and once we get one, we'll just keep getting more and more," Goris said. "I just think we need just one win. And then all of our guys, that's where their belief is going to come in: that we can win if we want."

Win or lose, fans wear red and black, make posters paying homage to their players and treat their seniors in high regard.

In a town like Attica, community representation is built on fierce competition. Restaurants and shops close early, in anticipation for the big game.

And each Friday night gives the Ramblers hope.

"Football," Goris said, "is something Attica has been built on."

Ethan Hanson is a sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@jconline.com , on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson .

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Hope rebounds at Attica amid 3-year winless football slump