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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
The Caston football team has not won more than three games in a season since 2012.
But despite arriving at North White for last year’s sectional quarterfinal with a 1-8 record, they expected to win. And in fact, they pulled out a 34-28 win before falling the following week to Carroll (Flora) 49-6 in the semifinals.
After years of low numbers – the situation was so dire that the IndyStar documented it in a 2018 feature article – the win over North White might indicate changing times.
“I thought we should have beaten them the first time around,” Caston coach Chris Ulerick, who is in the third season of his second stint as coach and his 22nd season overall, said, referring to a 14-6 loss to North White in last year’s regular season. “They certainly played a lot better. They had that familiarity to it, but we’ve got to be able to do that with unknown opponents. … Hopefully, our kids remember that feeling and that kind of stuff, but I wouldn't call it a jump-off point. They finally played a complete game. It was finally our most complete game of the entire year. It was good to see them finally play like that. You just wish it would have happened a little bit more often.”
Caston had 36 kids come out for football this fall – three seniors, six juniors, 10 sophomores and 17 freshmen.
Jabez Yarber and Landen Rigney, the running backs who each ran for over 100 yards in that North White win, are a junior and a sophomore, respectively, this year.
Players like Ashton Bowyer, Gage Minniear and Brody Brewer also established themselves as freshmen in 2023. That could help offset the graduation losses of first-team all-Hoosier North receivers Kyle Roudebush and Grant Yadon and honorable mention all-Hoosier North lineman Pete DuVall.
So Caston’s improvement could come from its younger ranks.
“We have weights three days a week, and we practiced two days a week throughout most of the summer,” Ulerick said. “There were some weeks where we did not practice as much, the weights three days a week, that was consistent. … We’re still young, so any strength that we can gain and grasp is going to be building for the future as well.”
Junior Gavin Mollenkopf is the most experienced returning quarterback.
Ulerick has traditionally relied on a wing-T offense but said the team will go to more of a single-wing look instead, and he added that Yarber, Rigney and Bowyer can all take reps under center.
“We can call Gavin the quarterback,” Ulerick said. “We’ve kind of changed things a little bit. We’ve got some experience in the backfield, so we’re going to try and get some different kids with their hands on the ball more often, and as long as everything works out well, we’re going more single-wing-type stuff at times, but we’ll still rely heavily on our wing principles.”
Tight ends include junior Lucius Edson, sophomore Brayden Unger and freshman Tucker Woolever.
Wide receivers – “spread ends” in Ulerick’s terminology – include sophomore Ashtyn Peters and freshman Logan Mollenkopf. Wings like Yarber, Bowyer and Rigney could also have passes thrown in their direction.
“Out on the edge, we’re going to be without much experience, but replacing two kids like Kyle and Grant, that’s tough,” Ulerick said.
Brewer will be the center, senior Noah Herd and sophomore Cameron McFathridge are the guards, and sophomore Luke Hipsher and freshman Parker Zimpleman will start at tackle.
Juniors Landen Ehlinger and Tommy Loving and sophomore Jayden Cox will provide depth.
“They communicate really well,” Ulerick said. “With us losing Pete from last year, Cameron McFatridge has taken in that role. He’s a little more vocal. You hear him making more calls from his position. Noah Herd, I think, is the quiet voice of what’s going on. … It helps that we’ve scrimmaged so much throughout the summer. It’s not like it’s their first time out there together, but Friday (a scrimmage at Northfield) will be the first test in a full-on Caston uniform that we’ve had this year.”
Senior Lane Halterman joins Herd and McFatridge at defensive tackle. McFatridge could also see time at defensive end along with Zimpleman and Edson.
Mollenkopf, Woolever and Brewer will form the inside linebacker group. Bowyer, Minniear, Rigney and sophomore Brayden Unger will get time at outside linebacker.
“Our outside linebackers, they are the combo,” Ulerick said. “So they can be there to make a tackle, or they can drop into pass coverage. Depending on what we’re looking at depends on what their job description entails.”
Cornerbacks include Logan Mollenkopf, Peters and Minniear. Yarber will play safety.
Ulerick has been a proponent of a 3-4 defense in the past, but this team will play more of an even-man front. Former Caston head coach Tony Slocum is the defensive coordinator.
“Personnel-wise, we have bigger bodies, but we don’t have a dominant big body, so we went more to the four-man front,” Ulerick explained. “We’ve transitioned to the even front the last two or three years. We always have some sort of odd package, but we’ve changed to this a little more the last two or three years. It just fits our kids a little bit better.”
Drew McGrew, who plays on the soccer team, and Gavin Mollenkopf will handle kicking duties.
Noah Herd, London Herd and Unger are the long snappers.
“I thought our June special teams work was really pretty good,” Ulerick said. “We have most of that solidified. We’ve got to start bringing that up in practice, but we pretty well hammered that out in the month of June.”
Ulerick reiterated how important the summer scrimmages were for his young players.
“Scrimmaging in the summertime helps,” Ulerick said. “It just helps. We were scrimmaging 2A and 3A schools all summer. That helps to be able to do, that type of stuff. It gets them into that situation four or five weeks ahead of the scrimmage week, and the scrimmage is the first true test of the year, but it should just be another attempt to go play a game.
“But it’s getting closer to Friday night.”
Schedule
Like all Hoosier North teams, Caston will start with two nonconference games, though Caston’s two nonconference games happen to be against the teams they played in last year’s sectional. Caston will play North Miami in the regular season for the first time since 2018 and South Central in the regular season for the first time since 2006.
Aug. 23 – at Carroll (Flora), 7 p.m.
Aug. 30 – vs. North White, 7 p.m.
Sept. 6 – at North Miami, 7 p.m.
Sept. 13 – vs. Pioneer, 7 p.m.
Sept. 20 – vs. South Central (Union Mills), 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 27 – at Culver, 7 p.m.
Oct. 4 – vs. Triton, 7 p.m.
Oct. 11 – at North Judson, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 18 – vs. Winamac, 7 p.m.
Oct. 25 – Class 1A, Sectional 42 quarterfinal
Class 1A, Sectional 42
Caston, Carroll (Flora), Frontier, North White, Pioneer, Taylor, Tri-County Winamac
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