Braves host annual Superstars Night at Blevins Memorial Stadium

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BROWNSTOWN

Before the boys get away from the field for the 4-H fair, the entire community comes together for a night of football at Blevins Memorial Stadium.

Brownstown Central High School hosted its annual Superstars Night on Friday with the high school, middle school and 56ers programs conglomerating on the field.

"It’s kind of an accumulation of the whole week," Braves head coach Reed May said. "A few years ago, we formatted this. It’s our camp week where we have a 56ers camp, middle school camp and freshman camp all going on at night while the high-schoolers are doing the a.m. weights and open field.

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"It’s kind of the first week of practice for the middle school program, while the 56ers get to know their coaches, and the freshmen are getting acquainted with the high school coaches," he said.

The high school team tested its physical abilities, getting measured in the bench press, parallel squat and power clean before doing the backward 30-yard dash, 40-yard dash and T-test.

"Quite a few years ago, we would max out with the high-schoolers, and there wasn’t any enthusiasm," May said. "They weren’t doing well, so I thought about changing it. Now, we have all the fans here watching them, which makes it exciting for them. It’s a Friday night, so it’s kind of like a game night. The kids usually do a much better job."

Senior Braeden Walker repeated as the overall superstars champion, while senior Sam Huber was second, and junior Jayden Steinkamp placed third.

"We work hard all summer, and this is the first thing we get to do that is more like football season," Huber said.

The senior pride S.T.E.P.P. team of Robert Buckles, Warren Franklin, Justin Howard, Huber, Brandon Reynolds, Nicholas Robbins, Joseph Striegel and Kiernan Tiemeyer was victorious over their peers in the team portion of the competition.

"Strength-wise, this is the strongest team we have ever had," May said. "However, right now, we have a lot of inexperience. We have 18 seniors, but a lot of them did not play much as juniors. We have some strong kids, but I think they need some varsity playing time.

"They’re capable of being very good varsity players, but we haven’t figured it out yet mentally," he said. "What I mean by that is knowing their assignments and learning how to play the game of football, little techniques that you need to play varsity. In a few games, I think we’re going to see a lot of improvement from these guys."

Incoming junior Lucas Hines said the team gets fired up for Superstars Night.

"We look forward to this because you get to prove yourself," he said. "You get to be competitive. You do your best and see how much you can do. We want to be the fastest and strongest we can be. We want to be the best we can be."

On top of the high school festivities, the middle school football teams did 7-on-7 scrimmages, and the 56ers had a punt, pass and kick competition.

May said his high school team works closely with the youth programs, and many of his varsity players start playing when they are in fifth grade.

"The high-schoolers help with the camps," he said. "The seniors work with the freshman, my juniors work the middle school camp and sophomores work the 56ers. Not only do the kids that idolize these guys get to see them, but when you coach, it helps you become a better player, too. I’m hoping the high-schoolers, by coaching a little bit, it makes them stronger players."

There was also a blood drive put on Friday night in the high school parking lot.

BCHS ended its week of football with 7-on-7 scrimmages against Franklin Community and Bedford North Lawrence on Saturday and a lineman challenge. That night, the team had its annual Dancing with the Stars fundraiser.

The Braves are off this week for the fair and will resume practices Monday. Brownstown will host its annual red-black scrimmage Aug. 9 before going to Jennings County on Aug. 16 for a scrimmage.

On Aug. 23, the Braves open the season against Corydon Central.

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The following were the winners of the punt, pass and kick competition during Superstars Night at Brownstown Central High School on Friday at Blevins Memorial Stadium.

Fifth grade

Speed test: Ryder Hall

Passing: Trey Isaacs

Kicking: Eric Justice

Punting: Peyton Garvey

Sixth grade

Speed test: Brady Schickel

Passing: Schickel

Kicking: Gavin Gourley

Punting: Gourley

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