Death of teammate takes Eastern Greene's focus away from IHSAA draw
Sunday's IHSAA's sectional draw announcement was an afterthought for any coach or player with the Eastern Greene football team.
One of the most anticipated days of the football season was turned into a day of mourning instead for the T-Birds, who learned that junior receiver/defensive back Jedd Cummings was killed in a car accident near his home early Sunday morning. He was 16.
An accident news release from the Greene County Sheriff's Office said it received a call at 4:22 a.m. to report a single-vehicle accident with possible injury in the area of Ind. 45, ½-mile south of I-69. The preliminary investigation found Cummings' black passenger car left the east side of the roadway, before crashing. He was pronounced deceased on scene. The release said "the investigation is ongoing and no further details will be released at this time."
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It sent shockwaves through the tight-knit community.
"It's never a phone call you really train for as a coach or a person in leadership, to get that early in the morning," Eastern Greene football coach Travis Wray said. "The administration let us call all the coaches and players before they made the announcement to the community.
"We're in the grieving process right now. Football is the last thing on our minds. As a staff, our goal now is to make sure the boys get what they need, whether that's football practice or sitting in a room with us."
That's just what happened Sunday afternoon after word spread. The coaching staff met at the school and players started trickling in, just wanting to be with someone to absorb the tragedy of the situation.
Remembering Jedd
Cummings had oddly enough, scored the lone touchdown for the T-Birds in Friday's loss at Linton on a 75-yard catch, typical of his big-making ability.
"I want people and the community and the boys to remember him as always having a bubbly personality," Wray said. "He was a kid who always made you smile, but somebody who was going to work hard, no matter what.
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"He played the last four or five games with a (cast on his arm) at receiver, which is not an easy thing to do, and he had over 100 yards receiving Friday. But I don't want to remember him for just taking a bubble screen 75 yards for a touchdown. He was a goofball in a positive way. He knew how to make the coaches laugh. But he was also a competitor."
Wray appreciates what Cummings brought to a tough sport where it can be hard to find the right balance to work and fun.
"It's so important," Wray said. "I'm a very serious individual but I can have fun with the best of them. He was one of my few handful, he knew when to turn it on and when to turn it off because it was time to work. That's not a skill a lot of high schoolers have.
"He had an infectious smile. That's what I'll remember about him and what he meant to me."
Moving forward
As of now, Wray said, Friday's Southwest Conference game at North Central was still on, but is leaving the final decision up to his players and how their emotions and reactions guide them throughout the week, how they'll approach practice and preparation for the game.
"Their mental well-being means a heck of a lot more than a game on Friday," he said.
Wray said the Cummins family was looking at Thursday for the visitation and funeral, but no official plans have been set yet as of Sunday evening. A prayer circle will be at 9 a.m. Monday and all are welcome. In addition, the football field lights will be kept on Tuesday night into Wednesday and Wray heard several other schools will follow suit.
Moving forward eventually means a sectional game and Eastern Greene learned it will open at home against West Washington (5-2). There were no preferred draws for the T-Birds (1-7), who are in one of the top 1A sectionals in the state. Eastern is the lowest rated club (35th in 1A by Sagarin) and the only one with a sub-.500 record after Week 8.
There's no relief for the winner as either Providence (6-1) or Springs Valley (4-4) await. South Spencer (4-4) and Tecumseh (8-0) play in the upper part with North Daviess (5-3) drawing the bye.
"We're in one of the top southern sectionals in 1A," Wray said. "And we're coming off a gantlet of games, Paoli, Owen Valley and Linton and going into a rivalry game this week.
"Our goal was to get better, so we focused on that. We had some injuries after the Paoli game and guys having to play different positions because we also had to take some disciplinary action late last week. So we only dressed 24 (for Linton) and that doesn't bode well for success against the No. 1 team in 2A. But the kids fought for four quarters."
South, North opposite brackets
Bloomington South has adjusted the back end of its schedule and did so not knowing Seymour would be a new sectional partner this year.
So South coach Gabe Johnson was pleased to see a trip to Columbus East (4-4) pop up as opposed to going back-to-back against the Owls. Seymour (6-2) and winners of five straight, will open play in Class 5A Sectional 15 at Bloomington North (4-4). Both the Cougars and Panthers will get a bye week after their Week 9 games, starting their sectional on Oct. 28. If they both win their openers, South would host the city rematch in the final for the second year in a row.
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South and Columbus East have met three times, all in playoff settings, the last in the 2016 semistate. North's last game vs. Seymour was 1996.
South scrimmaged itself this week and is ready to hit a new set of purple and white uniforms in Week 9.
"We're healthy and got to compete a little bit," Johnson said. "We also had a chance to do some special team scripts. Obviously, (a scrimmage) is now what you want, but for the most, we were able to warm up the shoulder pads and tackle each other in a live session.
"We prepared for each other, which was good. It was enlightening to scout each other and come up with good data for each other. We'll move on to Seymour pretty quick."
The Owls have won four games on their last possession this year and come in off a rout of New Albany that earned their first share of a Hoosier Hills Conference title since 2001.
"They're a pretty confident team," Johnson said. "And we'll be there for senior night, so we'll have our hands full for sure."
Looooong drive for Edgewood
In this season where everything keeps hopping in the way of success for Edgewood, the draw naturally was no different.
The Mustangs (1-7) not only drew arguably the best team in its new 4A Sectional 23 field, No. 3 East Central (7-1), it also drew the four-hour round trip on Oct. 21 to St. Leon to go with it. The Trojans' only loss is to Cincinnati Moeller (43-13), otherwise, they've given up just 37 points to seven in-state opponents.
Silver Creek (3-5) and Jennings County (2-6) are in the same bottom bracket.
While EC and No. 8 Martinsville (6-2) are a combined 13-3, the other six are just 12-36. The Artesians open at neighbor Greenwood and Bedford North Lawrence (4-4) is at Shelbyville (1-7).
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Death of teammate takes Eastern Greene's focus away from IHSAA draw
