Milan advances to Semi-State for first time since 1996

All photos provided by Linz to Lens Photography

(MILAN, Ind.) – The Milan Indians football team took the long bus trip to Clarksville to face the Providence Pioneers on Friday night. 

Providence won the state championship last year and high school football experts across the state were predicting a Milan loss.  

A few hours later, the Indians got back on the bus with a 22-7 victory and their first Regional championship since 1996! 

The last time the Indians won a football regional was when Ryan Langferman was a player. 

He's now the head coach and says the work ethic of this team is why the Indians are heading to Semi-State for the first time in 29 years. 

“Our group has improved every single week, and over these last two weeks, they’ve executed the game plan flawlessly. We haven’t been perfect, but we’ve played disciplined, complete football in all three phases,” Langferman said.

Wyatt Marsh has been the starting quarterback for the past three seasons and has experienced the highs, lows and everything in between when it comes to Milan football. 

The senior and his teammates were not going down without a fight against the defending state champs. 

We asked Wyatt to answer a few questions following the game but he decided that the entire bus should weigh in before he answered.

“We knew it was going to be a battle going into it and knew the whole team had to be on their A game to come away with the win,” the team told The 812.

They added that the success of the team wouldn’t be possible without the coaching staff. 

“They mean the world to us and they spend countless nights coming up with a great game plan for the team. We’re all just a big group of brothers playing for each other,” they said.

The head coach echoed Marsh's comments when describing his assistant coaches. 

“Our coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for the preparation and game planning that put our players in a position to succeed,” Langferman said.

The team was welcomed back into town with a fire and police escort early Saturday morning.

They now turn their attention to South Putnam and that game will be played in Milan this coming Friday. The winner goes to the Class 1A IHSAA State Championship.

“I couldn’t be happier for our players, our school, and our community. A deep playoff run is something special—these are moments our kids will remember for the rest of their lives. I’m just grateful to be a part of it,” Langferman added.