Centerville Head Coach Kyle Padgett is in his second season with the Bulldogs.
CENTERVILLE, Ind. – Kyle Padgett enters his second season with the Centerville Bulldogs hoping to build on the foundation the was build last season.
“My expectations for this season are to continue to improve on a daily basis and build on the solid foundation we set last year,” Padgett said. “We had a great off-season in the weight room and the kids developed a lot of confidence. ; they now expect to win every time they hit the field. My hope is to compete for the conference title and playing well for the heading into the sectional.”
“We are just excited to be able to represent our great school and community,” Padgett continued. “It was an amazing summer in the weight room for all of our sports and our band had one of their best summers in years. It is a fun time to be a Centerville Bulldog and we will go out every Friday night and do our best to make our school and community proud.”
Kody Witham, Chris Pritchett, Cole Cooper, Dylan Benedict, Nico Wankerl, Shaw Halcomb, Collin Snyder, Alfredo Calderon and Dante Torres are expected to lead the Bulldogs.
Witham is a three-year starter, two-time All-Tri-Eastern Conference player and team captain. He gained 445 yards on the ground and had a team-high 128 tackles.
“I’m looking for him to have another big season for us on both sides of the ball, while providing leadership and carrying the load,” Padgett said.
Pritchett ran for 390 yards with six touchdowns as he led the Bulldogs in rushing their last four games.
“We expect that trend to continue this year,” Padgett said. “Chris will be carrying the load offensively, while also starting at inside linebacker.”
Cooper is another two-way player and he led Centerville with four touchdown receptions in 10 grabs. Benedict is in his third year as the starting quarterback. he threw for 692 yards and 10 scores last season.
Others Padgett is expecting to contribute are Eli McCoy, Noah Knorpp, Reece VanDevender, Jacob Creigmile, Peyton VanWinkle, Jakob Culbertson, Mason Peed, Drew VanWinkle and Alec Runyon.
Centerville starts the season at Delta on Friday before the Bulldogs entertain Tri in the their Tri-Eastern Conference opener on Friday, Aug. 25.
“The TEC is a darn good conference,” Padgett said. “Hagerstown is going to be very good again and you know Winchester and Northeastern will reload under their great coaching staffs.
“I believe Tri will continue to improve along with us,” Padgett added. “I know Phil (Renforth) is excited about his incoming freshmen class at Lincoln. Union City beat our tails last year and Union County has a new coach. I believe there will four or five teams with a chance to win the conference. Every night is a dog fight and we hope to come out on top of a few of those fights.”