Williams, seniors lead Greencastle rebirth

Saturday, September 10, 2016
Greencastle coach Mike Meyer gets Elijah Williams’ attention during Friday night’s win over South Putnam.
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

One of the best qualities any school sports team can have is a strong group of seniors to set the tone, not only for themselves but for the younger team members.

Greencastle High School’s football team suffered through one of its worst seasons ever last season, finishing with a 1-9 record, losing three games by more than 50 points and generally just not being a good team.

This year, the Tiger Cubs are off to a 4-0 start following Friday night’s win over South Putnam, and the seniors are definitely leading the charge.

Quarterback Nick Costin, running backs Devin Clar and Derek Ummel, receivers Tyler Edwards and J.T. Matthews and versatile Jackie Scanland are some of the upperclassmen whose names are frequently called during Tiger Cub games.

One of the unquestioned leaders, on and off the field, is senior lineman Elijah Williams.

Elijah Williams
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

Standing 6-feet tall and weighing 200 pounds, Williams is a solid-sized high school player but hardly a gargantuan physical specimen.

Don’t tell that to opponents, however. Williams is a vocal leader for the Tiger Cubs and also does the dirty work in the trenches that both allows the ball carriers to get free and to help the defense to be an impenetrable wall.

Williams admits that last year’s debacle has played a big role in the team’s rebirth this season.

“It definitely has driven us to this point,” Williams said after Friday’s win. “[Coach Mike] Meyer has not let us forget about what we were last year. Being 1-9 was super tough to deal with.”

The seniors decided they didn’t want a repeat of 2015, and did something about it.

“All of us seniors came together and had senior meetings every Friday,” Williams said. “We’d show up in coach Meyer’s room at school, eat breakfast together and talk about what we wanted to accomplish this year.

“We a great turnout for winter workouts and that has really driven us and molded us into a team.”

Not every high school player likes his coach, but Williams is quick to credit Meyer and his staff for being huge reasons behind the success over the first half of the season.

“Our coaching has really driven us this year,” he said. “We have a great set of coaches, probably my favorite set of coaches ever.

“Coach Meyer has really fired us up and told us to go ‘one more’ all the time — and that’s what we do every practice and every game.”

The Tiger Cubs will look to go to 5-0 in a non-conference game at Cascade on Friday.

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