Peru welcomes 2001 State Champions home | Sports

PERU — They were announced as cheers and smiles were had by those in attendance. Then the players walked to the 50-yard line and celebrated one more time.

“I know that was something that we always did at pep rallies,” Matt Bezio said.

“We always did that after games. The captain’s took over that and I think that was a really cool experience and I thought it did bring back those memories of winning games at the Apple Bowl and going the 50 yard line and doing that and being in the gym during pep rallies and having our student body supporting us going on that run. So that was cool and a really steep memory of that team coming together and that cheer.”

This was not your ordinary Nighthawks, rather the 2001 NYSPHSAA State Class B Champions who were inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame, Sept 15.

Bezio, known to the Peru community as the team’s quarterback, now serves as the Beekmantown High School principal.

Friday, brought back a rush of memories when he saw teammates and coaches. Some that he hadn’t seen in years.

“Friday was wonderful,” he said. “The biggest thing for me is just walking into the game, seeing some teammates that I have not seen in two decades, and just seeing their faces and immediately reminiscing about the experience that year.

“You look at each member of that team that was there on Friday night and you had some type of memory with them, and I think that was the coolest part about that whole night along with the support of the community, the Peru environment, it was just all that sense of pride that he had. It made it almost surreal.”

Reliving the Past

Bezio said that whenever he runs into one of his teammates or coaches today, the conversation always comes back to the 2001 season. No matter what, football, and more specifically the run, is talked about.

They may joke about returning to the Carrier Dome, or something specific that happened that season.

Head Coach Larry Ewald has some special memories of his own.

One in particular happened in the state semifinals against Harrison, where Peru trailed for three and a half quarters.

After getting a stop late in the fourth quarter, the Indians began to march down the field with Mike Oertel catching two passes over the middle. Running the same play a third time, the tight end was covered and Bezio took off.

“I’m triggered,” Ewald said. “I’m yelling, ‘Get out of bounds! Get out of bounds!’ and I think everyone else was as well. Instead of getting out of bounds. He planted his outside foot and cut up the field. and I remember thinking, ‘Oh no, we’re not going to stop the clock. We’re gonna run out of time.’

“I was wrong. He wasn’t gonna let us lose. He got to the end zone. I don’t describe it very well but it was basically surreal. It was just a fantastic comeback and a great play by him. Then Brandon Keller picked off one of their passes. At the end of the game we won, in fact we probably shouldn’t have won that one, but we did.”

Any competitor will say that on the way to winning a championship, even sometimes a game, luck has to be on your side. It’s something Ewald said the team had plenty of.

But, that 2001 team was special. and it began with going to a team camp in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

They were able to play some decent competition from all across the region. It was primarily touch or seven-on-seven but it showed the team they could compete with schools outside of the North Country.

It created a strong mental state the team used throughout the season.

“Our kids were confident,” Ewald said. “They weren’t overconfident, they weren’t cocky, but they were confident that they could, they could play with people and that showed in our run in 2001.

“I think the kids believed, probably more than I believed, that they could win every time they stepped on the field.”

But something special, that both Ewald and Bezio mentioned, was how the community rallied around the team as the run happened.

“One of the big things I remember was just the camaraderie,” Bezio said. The camaraderie not only within the team that year, but the community. The way the community came together and supported us was amazing.

“There was a send off parade. There were people waiting for us on the side of the road as we came back from Syracuse. Just that was the big thing I remember is how the community’s approval came together behind the team. It was a state championship for the community and we really felt that as players.”

Ewald added that everyone in the community felt involved.

“It was almost surreal, because people who really didn’t know the game of football, didn’t pay too much attention to football, knew that something special was going on with our group. It meant an awful lot to all of us,” he said.

“And I really think that the kids, you know, I mean they were 15-18 year old kids. They were just overwhelmed by that emotion and that outpouring of affection.”

But, it wasn’t just in Peru that the support poured in from. It was from the entire North Country.

From Plattsburgh to Saranac and Champlain to Clintonville, the entire area got behind the team’s run.

Even the Plattsburgh State men’s hockey team.

While the state championship was going on, the hockey team had a home game with a raucous crowd.

Peru won the championship before the hockey game was over. So, the announcer made sure to let everyone know.

“‘We have a score from Syracuse at the state championship final,’” Ewald recalled. “And he goes, the score of the game was Chenango Forks 7 and kind of paused. and of course, you usually mention the winner first, right when you’re now seeing a score.

“Well, he said ‘it’s Chenango Forks seven and the Peru Indians 14!’ Apparently it was like a thunderous roar. Just opening up and the fans at Plattsburgh State that the height at the college hockey game. They were really excited and went crazy, and I just thought that touched me probably more than anything else that I had heard.”

Saturday’s Dinner

While Friday had a community feel and celebration to it. The dinner the following evening had a more sentimental feeling.

While teammates had another chance to reconnect, parents and families were also in attendance to enjoy the atmosphere at the Adirondack Country Club.

“We used to have morning practices and team dinners that were put on by the parents,” Bezio said. “The support of the parents and seeing some of those parents that night. It was like we were sitting there again as a team.”

Bezio said that the captains and Coach Ewald stood up to share memories and talk about the season while reliving the past.

He said it was reminiscent of when Ewald would stand in front of the team and use a quote from “The Edge” and connect it to what the team was doing, or about to do.

“It got you hyped up, and made you want to run through a brick wall,” Bezio said.

But, “Coach” as he’s called, wanted to just talk about how proud he was of what his kids have become.

“I don’t think I can ever stop calling them kids,” Ewald said.

It’s not just from the team, but the community also still calls Ewald, “Coach,” something he still feels humbled to hear.

“Quite honestly and it’s very flattering,” he said. “I have to say it’s an honor to be called ‘Coach,’ it really is. I’ll stop and get an ice cream at Stewart’s or something. and someone will say to me ‘Coach, how are you doing?’

“I just think that is a tremendous compliment. and I’m honored. Honored to hear that.”

The dinner was a more informal setting for the team. Bezio praised the efforts of the Peru Hall of Fame committee and talked about how Channel Five had a video to play that highlighted the season.

He said it was great to connect with guys he had not seen in decades. Everyone was able to exchange phone numbers and other contact information and hoped to see each other sooner than another two decades.

Bezio said it wasn’t really the players who were spearheading this idea.

“It’s funny even my wife said we’ve got to get a crew together monthly, you know if that’s at somebody else’s house to do this more often,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re holding on to that and getting together more often than once every 20 years.

“I think that that was something that was really cool that my wife brought up that she saw with that team in that community. So I think that’s a really cool part about it.”

Gouverneur, Hudson, Harrison, Chenango Forks. That’s the road Peru took on their way to the 2001 state championship.

When asked, Ewald said one of his fondest memories is when Bezio took a knee for the final time. There’s also the 35-0 drubbing of Hudson, that was payback from a previous game that he spoke of.

But, the biggest thing is just how the run, and more specifically the team, means to him.

“I still look back on that as one of the best times in my life,” Ewald said. “And I consider myself very lucky to have been able to experience something as special as that and there’s no doubt that it’s still very important to me and it certainly was a huge time in my life and a very important time in my life.”

And like Bezio’s wife, he’s not opposed to seeing his kids again soon.

“The get-together this weekend was just outstanding,” Ewald said. “And anytime anyone wants to get together, I’m sure we will get a lot of people that would want to be part of that.”