NEWBURGH, Ind. — From Brady Allen at Louisville to Branson Combs at Wake Forest, Southwestern Indiana has its fair share of representation in NCAA Power 4 conferences.
That’s especially the case in Warrick County, as former Boonville standouts Devin Mockobee and Clay Conner are in Big Ten football programs while Castle graduates Cameron Tilly and Antonio Harris are at Auburn and Purdue, respectively. Knights senior Benny Patterson committed to Cincinnati football in April while classmate Max McCool attended a football camp at Purdue earlier this summer.
Castle coach Doug Hurt is proud major college programs are continuing to notice Southwestern Indiana.
IHSAA football: 75 players to watch across Southwestern Indiana in 2024
Talked to Castle senior Benny Patterson (@BennyPattlll) earlier this morning as his team prepares for the upcoming season.
Here is the Cincinnati commit on what it means to be a leader for the Knights and how awesome it is to see local talent in the Power 4: pic.twitter.com/gAShFF7u1q
— Treasure Washington (@Twashington490) July 24, 2024
“To see that come along and have some guys get some offers and that kind of thing in our area is really great for not only the kids but for the programs involved,” he said. “We’ve always had great football here; it maybe just hasn’t been noticed in terms of recruiting. But hopefully, that’s starting to change.”
Hurt and his players would love to see even more Southern Indiana Athletic Conference athletes in the Power 4 in the near future.
“I think there’s a lot of talent in the SIAC, and I think colleges are starting to realize that,” Patterson said. “That’s pretty cool. Going to go play for the Bearcats in historic Nippert Stadium is something I’m definitely super excited about. The coaching staff, I’m really thankful that they gave me the opportunity to do that.”
Castle has consistently been among the SIAC’s top programs having not experienced a losing season in 14 years. The Knights’ biggest goals this fall are daily improvement and focusing on themselves. Hurt said if his team takes care of those two things, the winning will take care of itself.
The Knights are loaded with the likes of McCool (1,223 total yards, 12 touchdowns), Patterson (70 tackles, 13 TFLs, four sacks) and senior center Coleton Adamson — Patterson and Adamson also made All-State teams. Seniors Gavin Leach, Trey Ward and Parker Belwood (318 combined tackles) are key returners on defense. Jersey Wells (265 receiving yards, six TDs), Izach Salpietra (236 yards, two TDs) and John Aigner (126 yards, TD) are all seniors to watch on offense.
“I think over 50% of both sides of the ball of our team this year is seniors,” McCool said. “So we’ve got one final chance to get our best outcome we possibly can this season. Other teams are going to (be) full of sophomores and juniors, but they’ve got one or two more chances. Obviously for me and the other guys around here, it’s our last ride. So we’ve got to make the best of it.”
There’s also been praise regarding senior Mitchell Lené and junior Boden Morgan under center. Hurt commended Lené for exceeding expectations all summer, avoiding disaster on plays and making smart decisions. Morgan, who played in seven games last season for Castle, also has a high football IQ and a strong arm.
“We’ve had several years in our program where you might have two quarterbacks and you have none, but this year we feel like we’ve got two really viable options,” Hurt said. “And I think that’s going to be a very tough decision for Coach (Jake) Bennett as we close in on that first game.”
Castle first looks to avenge a season sweep when it travels to North for its opener. The Huskies won their first sectional championship since 2000 in Paradise last fall in a 60-50 shootout. North’s previous sweep of the Knights came in 2003.
“We’ve just got to learn from our losses last year,” Adamson said. “We went 0-2 against North, and we just can’t have that. This year, we’re going to learn from them and come back even stronger.”
Castle Knights
Last year: 7-4 (6-3 Southern Indiana Athletic Conference)
Head coach: Doug Hurt, 134-74 in 19th year at school
Key players to watch
Coleton Adamson (OL, Sr.), Parker Belwood (DB, Sr.), Gavin Leach (LB, Sr.), Max McCool (RB, Sr.), Benny Patterson (DL, Sr.), Trey Ward (LB, Sr.)
The Knights’ three biggest games
Aug. 23 at North: There’s no doubt this game is on the Knights’ minds. Despite getting swept by the Huskies last fall, Castle has still dominated this series of late, winning 13 of the last 17 games and averaging 30.9 points per contest in that span.
Sept. 27 at Reitz: Cake Eaters vs. West Siders is one of Southwestern Indiana’s best rivalries. This critical midseason showdown could even determine the SIAC champion. Reitz Bowl will be electric on this final Friday in September.
Oct. 18 at Memorial: What will this year’s installment of Castle-Memorial bring? Many of these games have gone down to the wire in recent years — the last two were even decided by a combined 11 points….
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