The South Gibson Star-Times serves the towns of Haubstadt, Owensville and Fort Branch.
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See ERA on page C-6 C-4 Fall Sports Preview Tuesday, August 16, 2022 South Gibson Star-Times FINANCING solutions available for any credit situation! Apply online at theautoparke.com 820 S. Main, Princeton • 812-386-8282 wwwTheAutoParke.com Now Offering AUTO DETAILING SERVICES TITANS ! Let's go Gibson Southern football begins new era By Andy Heuring Star-Times Sports sports@sgstartimes.com Gibson Southern football, fresh off the school's first state championship, prepares for the era. During Nick Hart's 10 seasons he has always had a standout quarterback. Jordan Scheller in Hart's first year had a 600-plus yard game of offense to win the regional. Nick Sellers was the three-time Southern Indiana Player of the Year and won two regionals. Isaac Sellers followed him with another SI Player of the Year. Then there was Brady Allen who was the Indiana Mr. Football, while leading the Titans to the state championship. Gibson Southern is in a new era. Gone are 23 seniors including starters: Allen, Ror y Heltsley, Levi Dickerson, Adrean Lukeman, Brayden Malone, Cade Virgin, Sloan Cox, Ben Luttrell, Drew Fos- ter, Noah Br yant, Aidan Bar- rett, Logan Maurer, Kaden Hurless, Jacob Kempf, Freddy Toth, Ryan Holzmeyer and Peyton Rogers. "We are young and inexpe- rienced ever ywhere. We are young and we have to keep getting better as we go," said Hart. "A lot of guys who are going to be playing this year were playing JV or freshman last year and now they are going to be playing varsity. A couple of guys were playing eighth grade." Hart said being able to make the jump to the varsity level is about more than the in- creased physicality at the var- sity level. "These guys are go- ing to have to figure out what a varsity week of preparation is like. It is just becomes a lot more detailed. Part of my con- cern is how well we are going to prep throughout the week for Friday," said Hart. "I was pleased with where we are with the progress we made throughout the sum- mer. I thought it is one of the biggest jumps we have made. Last year we started way above where are this year, but ver y pleased with how much better we got throughout the summer," said Hart. Even though Brady Allen is gone, Gibson Southern's of- fense will still run through the quarterback. Hart said their offense is probably going to be more like it was with Nick and Isaac Sellers. "We are still going to throw the football. That is just who we are, but we run the ball ver y well. Our quar- terbacks are capable, but we have to stay on schedule and stay in front of the chains. Last year that seemed irrelevant at times," said Hart. "We have a chance to be dy- namic, just a little bit different. So far in the pre-season there are two quarterbacks: Tanner Boyd and Liam Br y- ant. "Both of those guys are re- ally good football players. We feel good about both of them." Boyd got to see a lot downs last year as the junior varsity quarterback. "He throws the ball well and he is a dynamic runner," said Hart. Hart said people didn't re- ally get to see he is capable throwing last year because of the game situation. "When you are playing clean-up duty we aren't going to throw the ball a lot in those situations." Br yant was the freshman team quarterback and played some in the varsity games, but got hurt late in the season. "He is athletic and can run the ball but probably is more of a pocket guy," said Hart of Br yant. Junior Sean DeLong and Devin Roberts will be the run- ning backs for the Titans. DeLong started all season for the Titans last year racking up 863 yards rushing. Roberts ran for 362 yards with 9.3 yard per carr y aver- age. "Both those guys have some speed." said Hart. "Sean did a lot for us last year. He will be playing the backfield and playing in the slot and move around for us." "Devin is a bigger guy. He has really gotten a lot better through the course of the off-season." Hart said Roberts will play a traditional tailback position. "They can both hit home runs out of the backfield," said Hart. Heltsley and Malone are both graduated, along with their 2,389 yards of receiving, but the Titans have two expe- rienced backs returning. Seniors Colton O'Neal and Cole McKee return as starters from last year. "Colton had some big catch- es for us," said Hart. McKee was the second leading receiver for the Titans when he suffered a broken collarbone against Mt. Vernon in the seventh game of the season. He was averaging 13.4 yards a catch and 51.7 yards of receiving a game. "Isaac started all 15 games for us last year. Both those guys are great targets," said Hart. Zack Butler and Max Wil- son will also be in the mix at receiver. This year's offensive line will be Zach Rose, Spencer Staggs, Teagan Baker, Jacob Bales and Jackson Adams. "Bales started all 15 games for us last year. Rose start- ed four games and played throughout the course of the season. So those guys have experience," said Hart. "Adams and Baker both had great JV years and did a great job in the off-season making themselves into offensive line- men," said Hart. Staggs is a freshman, but has had a fantastic summer. He obviously is a varsity play- er and ready to play at that level," said Hart. He added it is the first time since his first season at Gibson Southern he had a freshmen start at offen- sive lineman. "They are coming along nicely. They are the group that has improved tremendously from our first workouts to now and getter better throughout the summer. On the other side of the ball the defensive linemen will be Ethan Ziliak, Jackson Redding and Brock Fauquher. "Ziliak started several games and played a lot last season. Redding played some snaps in the championship game. He wasn't a starter but got some snaps at big times so both bring some experience. The defensive tackles will be Ty Whitledge, Brody Klem, Brayton Reinhart and Garrett Heldt. "Ty had a great year last year. He was all conference and led us in tackles for loss and sacks until he got hurt The 2022 Gibson Southern football team members are front row (l to r) Cole McKee, Jacob Bales, Isaac O'Neal, Ethan Ziliak, Tristen Boyd, Luke Foster, Jackson Red- ding, Brock Fauquher, Tye Whitledge, Garrett Heldt and Zach Rose; second row: Brayten Reinhart, Jackson Adams, Maxx Wilson, Ian Rexing, Michael Herren, Shayne Marsh, Ottie Droste, TJ Lewis, Zach Butler and Devan Roberts; third row: Deven Burger, Cam Novotny, Liam Bryant, Connor Wirey, Kylin Eads, Maddux Potts, Chase Thaxton, Jake Richter, Mason Scheller, Tanner Boyd, Sean DeLong and Gabe Bryant; fourth row: Teagan Baker, Grant Stinson, Seth Parsons, Elijah Brown, Max Wahl, Isaac Cavins, Anthony Hall, Waylon Finney and Jake Foster; fifth row: Nicholas Agee, Baker Calvert, Beau Rose, Jack Rose, Brody Klem, Lucas Emery, Avery Adams, Zach Foster and Spencer Staggs; sixth row: Zach Pullum, Nick Hart and Cary Maurer. 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