by Taylor Boggs ’16, Sports Editor
What an extraordinary fall season for the CCDS Indians! Not only did all of the sports teams do well, but
the Varsity football team had a fantastic run finishing with a 10-1 record and making it to the OHSAA playoffs (Regional Quarterfinals) for the first time in two years. Other exciting achievements include senior J.R. Menifee and sophomore Darryn Jordan cracking 1,000 yards rushing over the course of the season, Head Coach Tim Dunn getting his 200th win after the team beat New Miami, and the team going undefeated for the first time in fourteen years!
Senior Captain Carson Aquino said that “It was great knowing that we gave Mr. Dunn his 200th win. Also going 10-0 is the dream of every football player.” Needless to say, all of the players were more than happy with their
season this year. The captains, J.R. and Carson, played a big role in leading the team after some of their starters graduated. To Carson, being a captain is a great feeling, but it also is a big responsibility and requires a lot of hard work. “When everyone is messing around and you want to join in, you can’t because you are the one that needs to make sure everyone stays focused so that we keep improving. Also the younger guys look up to you and if they see you messing around they see it as OK to mess around also.” Team members said that J.R and Carson were excellent leaders and even though Brooks and Carter were not captains, they still were great senior leaders to the younger players.
If there was one word the captains could use to describe the team, it would be “family.” The team worked together to overcome a lot of obstacles over the course of the season and they always had each other’s backs. As an individual, Carson believes that his “biggest challenge was having to learn new positions.” And as a whole, their biggest obstacle was merely numbers. Carson explains that “We have really good players but our numbers leave us with a lack of depth in different positions. Now that I am out Kunal has to step up as linebacker and Nick has to step up as full back.”
The captains believe that the team is going to be great next year as well even though they will not be playing with this year’s seniors. “They will do just fine,” said Carson, “They will have eight returning starters on both sides of the ball and have a good chance to go 10-0 again.” Carson intends to play in college and he is very excited about doing so. If there was any advice he could give to younger players it would be to “Work hard, play hard. If you put in the time to lift, get stronger, and practice to become better—it will pay off.”
