Caston football season in review: Loss to No. 3 Carroll ends season, but young nucleus developing

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Caston football team’s season ended with a 49-6 loss to No. 3 Carroll (Flora) in a Class 1A, Sectional 43 semifinal last week.

The team finished 2-9, and they have not won more than three games in a season since 2013.

They move forward without six graduating seniors: Kyle Roudebush, Grant Yadon, Levi Martin, Chase Angot, Pete DuVall and Lance Hanna.

But it would also appear that a young nucleus might be forming. The sophomore class includes Gavin Mollenkopf and Jabez Yarber, and an even younger group of freshmen that includes Ashton Bowyer, Landen Rigney, Gage Minniear, Brayden Unger and Brody Brewer all saw significant playing time.

There are also murmurs of a successful eighth grade group on the way next year.

Yarber finished with 613 yards rushing on 6.3 yards per carry, and Rigney had 406 yards on 6.4 yards per carry.

Yadon provided offensive balance – 327 yards rushing, 331 receiving. And he and Roudebush were key defensive players at linebacker.

DuVall and Martin are two-way linemen that will need to be replaced.

But the landscape of the Hoosier North is changing that might open a shaft of sunlight onto the Comets’ future prospects.

Knox and LaVille, the top two teams in the standings, are both leaving the conference to join the new Indiana Northern State Conference. They were a combined 13-1 in conference play this year.

Meanwhile, nine of Caston’s 11 opponents this year finished with a winning record. Five of their 11 opponents will be playing for a sectional title Friday.

North Miami, who has not had a winning season since 2017, and South Central (Union Mills), who has had just one winning season since 2017, are replacing them. (South Central is joining for football only. Argos and Oregon-Davis are also joining the conference, but neither has a football team.)

A schedule that has seemingly been unrelenting since the formation of the Hoosier North in 2015 might begin to relent a little.