Putnam County football players make All-Star team
TERRE HAUTE -- The Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association held its 10th annual all-star game on Saturday, June 28. It's held at ISU Memorial Stadium and features some of the top football athletes in the area.
The Gold Division took control early and led throughout, winning 35-12.
The roster included Greencastle's Dustin Williams, Seth Brown, Grant Mundy, Tyler Scott and Alec Pettit from the Gold Division and Cloverdale's Andrew Howard and Wade Warren; North Putnam's Ben Wiatt, Grant Bryan and Jake Smith and South Putnam's Lane Hacker, Braden Patrick, Tayler Arnold and Wes Riner playing for the Black Division.
These athletes had the chance to face off with schools like Terre Haute South and Northview.
"Playing in the all-star game is a good time. It's a lot of fun," Scott said. "You meet kids from all over the state that are enjoying the game just as much as you are. It's good to play with the same talent level, it gets you real competitive."
Scott says that a big part of the enjoyment is having that last crack at football with players on his team.
"It's a good atmosphere. Its nice to get back out onto that field one more time with your teammates and a bunch of other kids that love the game just as much as you do," he said.
The game started off with the Gold Division jumping out to a 21-0 lead. Fumbles plagued the Black Division and Nicco Stepina of Casey Westfield took advantage at the quarterback position.
The Black Division struck in the third quarter when Terre Haute North's Chris Barrett scrambled around the backfield and found Warren, who made a diving catch in the middle of the end-zone.
"There were definitely more top-notch players," Warren said. "You come out here and it's not like playing against people who sometimes don't play as much. You're playing against the top-notch people in Indiana. It was great. It was a blast."
The Black Division scored again courtesy of Barrett but was unable to convert after scoring and unable to close the gap. After another Gold score, they made an interception to seal the win.
"I had a complete and total blast with all these kids around here," Howard said. "They're all fun people to be around. They definitely bring a brand new enthusiasm for the game that we are not totally used to at Cloverdale."
The teams began practice about a week before the game, bringing together coaches and players from all over the Wabash Valley to play the fall season's most team-oriented sport.
"It was little harder because we didn't really have the connections that we had early in the season," Brown said. "You really adapt quickly because there are really good coaches and all the kids are all-stars. So we all played like all-stars today and won the game."