“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

Most remember that quote from Hall of Fame football coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi. The Packers dominated the National Football League under Lombardi in the 1960s, winning five NFL titles, including the first two Super Bowls.

Many coaches will agree winning builds character. Others will go a step further and say losing does the same. Losing, though, isn’t something coaches will ever get used to or accept. It’s not in their nature.

Linton-Stockton High School football coach Brian Oliver is no different.

The Miners’ success on the gridiron is well known around the state. Since 1980, they’ve compiled a 403-138 record (.745 winning percentage). That includes a state title in 2016 with a perfect 15-0 record, and runner-up finishes in 2015 (14-1) and 2024 (12-3).

ivan montgomery (0) is a sophomore for the miners. photo courtesy of the linton-stockton yearbook staff

Since 1980, the Miners have won 12 regional championships, 17 sectionals, and 70 total games in sectional play. The next closest in Sectional 40 is Perry Central with 46.

Linton has had just five losing seasons since 1980, after compiling a 95-173-9 record from 1952-79. Impressive for a Class 2A (Class A for many of those years) program that routinely plays bigger schools.

This year, though, the Miners haven’t had the same type of success. They take a 1-8 record into Sectional 40 play at Pike Central on Friday night. The game starts at 7.

Linton lost 16 seniors from a year ago, and that class compiled a 44-10 record in four years with three regional titles, a semistate title, and state championship runner-up.

freshman braxton moore (8). junior tate gamble (44) and sophomore Coltyn Andrews (21) are also pictured. photo courtesy of the linton-stockton yearbook staff.

The offensive starters against Pike Central will include five seniors, two juniors, three sophomores, and a freshman. On defense, there will be three seniors, three juniors, and five sophomores.

“We were going to have to build with the younger kids because we lost all those seniors, and we knew that there was a lot of changes coming,” Oliver said before a recent practice.

“I don’t ever call it a rebuilding year. I’ve told the kids from day one, I call it a learning year. We’re learning a lot of stuff.”

Oliver noted only two varsity players (starters who played a lot) returned from a year ago.

“We’ve been learning about ourselves each game to try to get better and get ourselves ready for the playoffs,” Oliver stressed. “It has been baptism by fire so to speak, and they’ve just had to get in and learn what playing varsity football is all about. That’s what I’ve liked about this group, they go out there and play, fight, and battle through all this.”

Losing hasn’t been easy for the Miners, especially with their winning pedigree. But Oliver hopes this season has been a learning and building experience that can spell success in the sectional and next season.

“You learn a lot about your team from losing a game. Everybody says it’s OK to lose a game every now and then, but I disagree. I hate losing,” Oliver explained. “But you do learn that stuff and it’s like a friend of mine says, you’re learning how to lose gracefully. I don’t want to learn how to lose gracefully because I don’t want anybody to think I enjoy that. I don’t want it. I don’t want that to be a feeling for our program that we’re getting used to losing.

“I want it to hurt because losing is not fun. So, we’re trying to build off that. But I do believe you have to fail in order to be successful, and we’ve been successful and now we have to build back from the ground back up ... there’s a winner and a loser, and the winners get benefits. Losing has consequences so we try to build from that.

“We don’t want them to get comfortable with (losing) because that’s not who we are as a program.”

Linton senior offensive guard/defensive end Tyler Franklin, a starter since his sophomore year, is a captain on this year’s team. He admits this season hasn’t been easy but has been pushing through and doing what he can to keep the Miners headed in the right direction. He also sees the sectional as a chance for the Miners to end the season on a high note.

“You don’t like to lose. When you don’t lose a lot (as a program), and you have high standards, it’s tough,” Franklin said. “We’ve lost a lot this year, obviously that shows in our record. But every week has been an opportunity for us. You know, it’s just every week is a new chance to get better. The scoreboard might not say it, but if you get better as a team, then it’s a win.”

Franklin emphasized that Linton is about winning championships, and that’s been the goal from the first practice — a sectional title.

“We may not have a winning record, but for the team all year, we kept going forward. Because our goal at the end of every season is to win championships ... a sectional, regional, semistate, however far that goes, but the championship is a goal.”

jimmy john phillips is a junior for the miners. photo courtesy of the linton-stockton yearbook staff

Coltyn Andrews, a sophomore wingback/linebacker, started as a safety for the Miners as a freshman. He refuses to let Linton’s 1-8 record define their season and wants this year’s seniors to go out on a high note.

“I think it would really mean a lot (to the seniors to do well in the sectional) and that’s part of the reason I try to play so hard,” Andrews said. “Because I don’t want my senior year, if our team (doesn’t have a good record), I don’t want the underclassman to just stop trying. ... I want to give it my all to give them the shot and that’s what I would want.”

Pike Central is 0-9 heading into sectional play. The only common opponent with the Miners is Eastern Greene. Linton defeated the Thunderbirds 41-7, and the Chargers lost to EG, 41-12.

The Sectional 40 pairings:

Tell City (6-3) at South Spencer (4-5)
Linton (1-8) at Pike Central (0-9)
Perry Central (2-7) at North Posey (9-1)
Paoli (6-3) at Eastern Greene (3-6)

The Miners know they have an opportunity to have some sectional success.

“I think our regular season has taught us a lot of things and given us a lot of lessons that most teams don’t get. When you get to playoffs, most teams can’t afford those lessons (because it’s one loss and the season is done),” Franklin said.

“We’ve learned how to fight, and we are battle tested. But we can’t overlook Pike Central, of course, because they’re a football team and it’s (a new season). Anything can happen. But it is a chance for us to kind of flex our muscles a little bit and show what we’ve been working on.”

Oliver said his team’s schedule, which included one 4A school and two 3A schools this year, along with quality 2A and 1A programs, should be a positive in the sectional. He also pointed out that since strengthening the schedule several years ago, it has helped take the program to new heights.

“I think that it really helped us a lot. You look at years and years ago, we were in that conference in the area. There’s a reason why none of those schools really wanted to play, they all dropped us,” Oliver said. “Our (record) would look a lot better if we were still in that schedule with that conference, but we’re not. And that’s fine. It really would have helped us out a whole lot (in terms of overall wins). But we never would have went to Lucas Oil (Stadium, home of the state finals) with the old schedule, and now we’ve been fortunate enough to do that three times.

“But this one here (this season), we’re taking our licks and the hard part with that is staying focused. ... I think (the schedule) really helped us get mentally and physically ready to play in a tough sectional.”

The Miners have struggled offensively this season, averaging 9.4 points per game. They’ve scored 85 total points in nine games, and 41 came against Eastern Greene. They’re giving up an average of 39.3 per game.

Oliver said those averages have made for a few sleepless nights. But he’s proud of how his coaching staff has responded in trying to find ways to help the team. The veteran coach said they’ve tried a little bit of everything.

“Every year I don’t sleep well (during the season), and this is probably one of the biggest years ... 3:30 in the morning, I’m up and I’m thinking what do I need to do? What approach do I need to take? How do I change my coaching philosophy? How do I change practices up? I mean all these different things that we try to look at as myself and the coaches try to figure out how can we keep the kids up,” Oliver explained.

“We preach to them all year it’s our goal to win championships, and our best championship is the sectional. If we continue to keep getting better, I believe we honestly can compete for one (this year).”

Franklin and Andrews both mentioned the Linton community and fan base has remained with the team despite the 1-8 record.

“Believe it or not they’re still there for us. They’re still behind us like they always have been,” Andrews said. “And I think they will be no matter what.

“I think (the support is) pretty important ... they know we’re doing our best. They know we’re doing everything we can to win and they’re behind us win or lose. No one likes to lose.”

Oliver, Franklin, and Andrews all said they’ve heard some “outside noise” from fans of other teams who are taking some pleasure in Linton’s misfortunes this season.

Franklin said the Miners can’t fall prey to that and react.

“The coaches preach that winning the right way and losing the right way is important. (Before they go out on the field before a game) we have a whole prayer thing. It’s like if we lose let’s stand by the road and cheer for the winners and (tell them) good job. If you lose, you’re not going to win the game off the field. You have to show respect,” Franklin explained.

Oliver said he tries to tune out all the negative, especially on social media.

“The social media stuff is always going to be out there, and you expect that. To me, it’s because of their expectations. We have high expectations, and when we don’t meet those expectations some people say stuff,” Oliver said.

“Most of our community understands (what’s happening this year), and most of the alumni I have talked to understand that stuff. But there are those outside people that don’t understand the situation. It’s a part of it and we’re OK with it to a certain extent because we know what we’ve got and we’re building from our kids work every single day. If (critics) want to come out and take a shot at us, we’re coming out swinging too and we’re going to give you our best shot. It might not be the best that we’ve had in the past, but we’re going to give you our best shot and if you get us now, we will move down the road (and be ready the next time).”