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Four Putnam County athletes back on the gridiron one more time at WVFCA All-Star Game Saturday
TERRE HAUTE — For a quartet of Putnam County athletes, Saturday will be a sendoff from the gods of the gridiron as part of the Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association All-Star Game held at Memorial Stadium at Indiana State University.
Greencastle’s Mark Hernandez and Connor George, along with head coach Mike Meyer, and South Putnam’s Matthew Goodpaster and Parker Pelfrey will represent the Black squad against a Gold squad being led by Eagle graduate and former Tiger Cub assistant coach Rob Gibson after a successful first season at Owen Valley.
Three other players were selected for the game but, due to prior commitment or injury, were unable to play as North Putnam’s duo Gunner Burress and Kovey Jeter were selected for the Gold squad while Greencastle’s Keifer Wilson will instead be playing in the IHSBCA North-South All-Star Game.
The game will start at 7 p.m. Saturday with a banquet held for the players at the Terre Haute Convention Center Friday at 6 p.m.
A week of hot practices under Black squad head coach Mark Raetz of Northview had been tiring but also what was needed to get back into the flow of the game according to the players.
“They’ve been fun,” Goodpaster said about the week of practices. “It’s been a little warm but it’s also been good for us to get back in shape.
“It’s been fun to play with guys with a lot of talent and everyone here has a lot of that. Meeting new people has also been great, too.”
“It’s a great opportunity to be out here with everyone,” Pelfrey added. “We’ve met a lot of new people and learned some new tricks of the trade while we keep going at it.”
Despite being a one-off week of practice and a final game, there was still a competitive edge on the field as both teams practiced on the turf at Memorial Stadium Wednesday.
“We’ve know that this is our last game, so we’ve had the opportunity to come out and, for the first time in our lives, really enjoy practice,” George said. “It’s pretty fun.”
“It’s a great opportunity to play with schools we don’t normally get to see from around the area,” Hernandez added about the rest of the squad. “It’s just a good time out here.”
Players from 36 schools will be on the field for Saturday’s game with three of the four Putnam County players focused on the defensive side of the ball.
Goodpaster and Hernandez will be rotating at defensive tackle, a bit of a new spot for both after being linebackers in their normal schemes, while George will be a cornerback, though he will also be called upon as a return man and even potentially as a holder on PATs.
“It’s been a little bit of a change,” Goodpaster said about his positional change. “That said, being a linebacker and having to run the defense before, I already know what the defensive tackles do, so it’s just getting to see the other side of it.
“It’s been a little bit of an adjustment but not bad at all.”
“It’s pretty easy,” Hernandez said about learning the defense. “The coach makes it simple enough and teaches it over and over again until we get it down to a T.
“I like that we have coaches here that know what they’re doing and teach us up quick.”
“It’s a pretty basic defense, a cover-2 and cover-3, and it’s pretty easy to adjust,” George said. “Rather than playing both sides of the ball, I’m playing just one side and it’s nice.”
Pelfrey will line up at center on offense and has seen plenty of both Hernandez and Goodpaster the past few days in the trenches, as well as Meyer, who has been working with the line.
“I like it,” Pelfrey said about working with Meyer. “He seems like a great coach and knows what he is talking about.
“He helps out a lot.”
Meyer said it was always a fun time to be part of the All-Star game and was enjoying working with many coaches from around the area.
“I’ve been involved in the game about eight or nine times, so I’ve worked with guys on both staffs,” Meyer said. “I’ve coached against and with these guys as well as with the players.
“This is something I enjoy. To me, this is a great week, a football week, and I enjoy every part of it.”
Gibson, meanwhile, will stand on the other side of the field from the Putnam County contingent, having now gotten to experience both sides of the All-Star game, and was also grateful to have been bestowed the honor of being a head coach in the game.
“I’m extremely fortunate and thankful to everyone in the Wabash Valley who thought of us like that,” Gibson said about being named a head coach after completing his first year of being a high school head coach. “It also helps that I also played in the game in 2012, so I know how much it means to the community and how much it means to the Wabash Valley.
“A lot of these coaches were doing so when I was playing, so to do this against them now is a lot of fun.”
The Gold squad was vibrant from start to finish on Wednesday with Gibson happy with the way things had been going throughout the week.
“We were having a lot of fun,” Gibson said about Wednesday’s practice. “It’s nice to see a group of guys come together and learn a different scheme while having fun doing something new, maybe playing a different position and building up relationships.
“When you get all those things together, it creates a lot of excitement.”
Along with five players and assistant coach Dale Stephens to call on, Gibson said the Gold squad had been easy to work with all week and was looking forward to Saturday’s outing.
“They’ve been awesome,” Gibson said about working with the athletes on the Gold team. “We have coaches from different areas who have been working with the guys, we’ve got players from rival schools playing together and everyone is coming together and working hard.
“As long as we can have some fun and stay safe while we’re doing it, we’re going to have a good time.”
With Saturday being a sendoff, each of the four county players were both excited to be involved while understandably trying to enjoy as much of the week as possible before it ends.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Goodpaster said. “We’ve been playing this game since we were little.
“We had our last game with our school, and that was a little sad. Now we have our last game ever playing football, so I’m taking it all in while I can and enjoying it.”
“At Parke Heritage, we knew we would have one more game after that with the All-Star game,” Pelfrey added. “After this, we’re done.
“It’s hitting a little hard.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Hernandez said. “I’m looking forward to going out one last time with the guys and some of the players in the area.
“I’m just thankful to play one more game of the great sport of football.”
“It’s weird that we’re playing with our rivals rather than against them,” George pointed out. “That’s pretty cool, playing with Parker and Matthew.
“We’ll just see how it turns out on Saturday.”