GREENWOOD — When the 2019 season started Center Grove looked doomed. The “War Horse” Carson Steele was out with a hamstring injury that looked to keep him out for most of the season. They suffered several other injuries and Coach Eric Moore and Co. were looking for answers after starting the season 0-3. Now they’re about to host the Semi-State game with a chance to play for a Class 6A State Championship if they can get past a surging Ben Davis squad.
It’s incredible that they’ve bounced back after such a tough start with an inexperienced team. According to Coach Moore they had seniors but many of them hadn’t played much before this year. They relied on a ton of sophomores as well including quarterback Tayven Jackson. Moore says that, “This is the most improved team he’s been around.”
According to Moore they struggled initially because “sophomores don’t understand how to finish. It took them all year long, four or five weeks to understand how to finish a game. We fumbled around and loss games because we didn’t know how to finish. We were in every game until the last few minutes of the game. Now they’ve grown up.”
This team is purring like a kitten now with those same kids playing significant roles in their success. With the War Horse out all season they relied heavily on a stable of running backs to get the job done like “Big Daddy Kane.” Sophomore Daniel Weems rushed for 1151 yards, junior Connor Delp dropped off 691 yards, sophomore Brandon Wheat hit boyz for 320 yards and Mitchell Evans picked up another 273 yards.
Well playas…last week in the regional against Warren Central the War Horse made his debut and he rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns to help the Trojans advance to the Semi-State. With all of those weapons coming out of the backfield all night it’s darn near impossible to slow them down.
The Trojans are playing in their 15th Semi-State in school history! That’s NUTS!!! Moore went on to say that he’s “proud of their effort, proud of the fact that they learned to finish, they competed, stayed with it and didn’t quit. It’s rewarding to see these kids learning to play the game of football.
When I asked Coach Moore what has defined his season this year. His response was simple. “The ability to not give up on each other. The ability to be humble and learn from your losses. Take it all in stride and play the next play and play the next game.”
Well playas…they’ve got a big one at home on Friday night with the Ben Davis Giants coming in looking to avenge a 48-20 whipping they took in Week 4 from the Trojans. It should be a good one because BD is purring like a kitten right now but the War Horse and his band of brothers are ready to ride. Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Big Daddy Kane: noun – late 1980’s rapper with a hit song “I get the Job Done”
