It’s football season, which means the football players and their mighty coach are expected to receive a lot of attention, and we stand firm to that. We started with Coach Huse and asked him what made him want to be a coach. He stated that he always wanted to be around the game of football. His football coach in high school inspired him to pursue a career in education and coaching. It just so happens that his passion has led him to Putnam County.

We asked him what brought him here to PC. He told us that Unionville had a job opening for a head football coach that just so happened to be in a town that was perfectly suited for him and his family. He is excited to give his best to be a great football coach for the boys here at Putnam. To him, this means memorizing and reviewing what qualities it takes to be a good coach. To Coach Huse, the best quality to have when coaching is to relate to your students so that you have a better understanding of why they do the things they do. To not make snap judgments on their character or decisions. He wants to be able to use this relationship building to help his coaches and the football team grow together, not just as a team, but as a family. To be there for each other and understand what exactly they are doing. He ended his interview with a description of his life as a football coach that just so happened to be one word...crazy! He is very devoted to making sure that this year not only brings respect to the football players and the game but gives a good and exciting season to draw in everyone from our community.

The next interview on our list was with one of our star players, Senior, Blaine Perkins. Blaine describes a star player to be someone who leads and values the team and is there because they love football and not just for the title of playing football. He says that his biggest goal this season is for the football team to be revived to its former glory and crush the losing streaks from the past.

Senior, Brayden Walter followed Perkins in this interview. Brayden believes that a star player is someone who helps the team with
exceptional leadership skills and the ability to motivate the team to do better. His goals for this year are to motivate his teammates, win football games, and show everyone that this year is going to be THE year for our football team.

Our third visit was with Senior, Chase Tomlin who also gave a great interview. Tomlin considers a star player to be someone who is hard working and does things not to benefit his own image, but that of the team. He doesn’t consider himself a star player but he thinks his effort in showing up to practice and treating everyone with respect, are important leadership qualities. He also said that his goals for this season as a team are for everyone to do their absolute best in every game and grow. Tomlin's personal goal is to win all-team all-conference.

Next up was Senior, Chase Simmons. Simmons' definition of a star player is someone who does their job and takes on leadership for the team. He tells us he does his best to lead the team and perform well in the game. His goals for this season are also to earn the respect of the football team back. Chase genuinely believes that this year they have something good going for them, and is excited to see how much they accomplish.

Our last senior to interview for this segment was Vincent Jones. Jones describes a star player as someone that the offense or defense revolves around. But without the support of the offensive line or the defensive line, the team wouldn’t be as stable. He doesn’t consider himself a star player but he says the support from his coaches makes him think that he has the potential to be a leader for his team. Vincent's goal for the season is to win enough games to gain respect back for the football program and no longer be seen as a ‘joke’.

We wanted some of our future star players' opinions as well so we interviewed some Freshmen who show a lot of potential. We interviewed Walter Hartwig, Bentley McCormick, and Angstrom Watt, all of whom have been playing for 5 years or more. They also all agree that winning is their top priority this season. We asked them who they looked up to, to which they responded Brayden Walter, Hunter Grabill, Reed Valentine, and Jude Watt.

As to our injured player, Kaden Christman, we should expect to see him in 4 weeks for a full recovery.

We think that this year they have put together a great football team. All of the players are very humble and hopeful for a good season, one that we are sure they are going to achieve. We encourage you to support them this season and make it to one or all of their exciting football games.
Let's go, Midgets!

Reported by Ms. Tosspon’s 2022-23 Journalism Class
Written by Jenna B.
#PutnamProud #PutnamPress #studentjournalism