Central Crossing football team battles through season of adversity
The Central Crossing football team defeated Westland 21-14 on Sept. 2, but suffered a loss that changed the course of its season.
Quarterback Luke White broke a non-weight-bearing bone in his right leg and would be lost for the remainder of the year. The junior, who also started at linebacker, played out the game against the Cougars, but his absence limited the squad’s offensive options. Although Central Crossing improved to 2-1 with the victory over Westland, it finished 4-7 overall after losing 42-0 to Pickerington Central on Oct. 28 in the first round of the Division I, Region 3 playoffs.
The Comets tied Lancaster for fourth (2-3) in the OCC-Buckeye Division behind champion Central (5-0). They lost 35-0 to the Tigers on Sept. 30.
“We thought it was just a sprained ankle, but Luke just wasn’t able to come back,” said sixth-year coach Trevor White, Luke’s father. “He’ll be ready for basketball. He would’ve been able to play if we would have beaten Pickerington Central and made it to the second round of the playoffs.
"This season was filled with a lot of adversity. We had a young and inexperienced roster as well as injuries at key positions. Our players responded quite well, especially later in the season.”
The Comets leaned on junior Abdul-Malik Kamara on both sides of the ball, as the first-team all-district and all-league selection totaled 788 yards and six touchdowns on 188 carries at running back and finished with 45.5 tackles and two interceptions as a defensive back. He also returned two kickoffs and one punt for scores.
“We learned a lot about having resilience this season,” Kamara said. “We lost our quarterback early, but we knew we had to get past that. I knew I had a big load on offense, but I just had to take it on and do the best I could.”
Senior linebacker Kenny Kemper led the team with 57.5 tackles, including 10.5 for loss, and added one interception, and senior defensive back Josh Codjoe had 24 tackles and two interceptions. Both were honorable mention all-district, and Kemper was first-team all-league while Codjoe was a second-team selection.
Senior linebacker Kolin Hendricks was special mention all-district and first-team all-league after finishing with 55 tackles and one interception, and senior Hendrix Mundy was the league’s Specialist of the Year as a long-snapper.
Following White’s injury, Mundy and Hendricks also saw action at quarterback along with junior Dylan Phillippi.
“It was an outstanding group (of seniors) that was fun to be around,” coach White said. “They were a good, hard-working group, but they didn’t have a lot of varsity experience coming in. They took their lumps and kept coming back. I love their resiliency.”
The Comets relied on a large group of underclassmen throughout the season. Sophomore Anthony Whatley, who was honorable mention all-league, had 199 yards and three touchdowns on 50 carries at running back and 14 tackles and two sacks as a linebacker.
Others expected back on defense are sophomore defensive back Jaylen Williams (44 tackles, 2 interceptions) and junior defensive linemen Aaron Jenkins (30.5 tackles, 6 for loss, 2 sacks) and Kyle Kruskamp (28.5 tackles, 8 for loss, 3.5 sacks). Williams and Kruskamp were second-team all-league and Jenkins was special mention.
Juniors Shemar Humphries (DB), Dylan Olson (RB/LB) and Christian Simpson (DB) and sophomores Yahir Dominguez (C) and Bradley Robinson (LB) also saw key time.
“I’m so proud of the way the kids played when they were thrown into starting roles,” coach White said. “That experience should help us going into next season.”
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CENTRAL CROSSING FOOTBALL
•Record: 4-7 overall
•OCC-Buckeye standings: Pickerington Central (5-0), Reynoldsburg (3-2), Groveport (3-2), Central Crossing (2-3), Lancaster (2-3), Newark (0-5)
•Seniors lost: Ethan Alcantara, Nick Allen, Tyler Baker, Nash Barrett, Torryon Bonaparte, Josh Codjoe, Tyler Degerick, Mohamed Hamza, Kolin Hendricks, Mika Holbrook, Evan Imler, Brian Karga, Kenny Kemper, Ian Kulp, Austin McKinney, Hendrix Mundy, Jeremy Pauquette, Seth Ollam, Jamie Ramirez, Sam Reasoner, Ben Reedy, Gage Swain, Jayden Vazquez and Tyshawn Walton
•Key returnees: Yahir Dominguez, Shemar Humphries, Aaron Jenkins, Abdul-Malik Kamara, Kyle Kruskamp, Dylan Olson, Dylan Phillippi, Bradley Robinson, Christian Simpson, Anthony Whatley, Luke White and Jaylen Williams
•Postseason: Lost to Pickerington Central 42-0 in first round of Division I, Region 3 playoffs
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Central Crossing football team battles through season of adversity
