A quick glance at the numbers from the past two football seasons show that Trenton Kelley had a more prolific junior year than senior year as quarterback for Columbus North.
But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. Kelley had more of a running game to work with this season, and he was dealing with a younger, more inexperienced cast of receivers.
Kelley, who led the Bull Dogs to their first Conference Indiana championship in 14 years, is this year’s The Republic Football Player of the Year.
“The proof is in the outcome of our regular season,” North coach Tim Bless said. “We won the city championship and finished undefeated in our conference for the first time in a long time. Statistics at times are a little misleading. Early in the season, we’re grooming a host of new wide receivers, so that plays in a quarterback’s statistics.”
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As a junior, Kelley threw for 2,233 yards and a school record-tying 25 touchdowns. But he was throwing to a group led by Jaylen Flemmons and Tristan Bailey, who now are playing at Ball State and Illinois State respectively.
This year, Kelley threw for 1,772 yards and 16 scores.
“I think we definitely had more of a balanced offense this year, and we had a great group of wide receivers last year with a lot of Division I talent,” Kelley said. “This year, it was just getting the chemistry down with a lot of the younger guys, and I definitely think our running game helped us not rely on the pass as much.”
Kelley returned to the gridiron this season after a major injury to end his junior year. He suffered a ruptured spleen on the opening drive of North’s sectional final loss at Center Grove in 2017 and had the spleen removed a few days later.
But Kelley returned to the basketball court in January and showed no ill effects of the spleen removal in the offseason and during his senior football season.
“I was just proud of Trenton and his resiliency,” Bless said. “To be able to bounce back from such a devastating injury at the end of his junior season to bounce back and have an incredible offseason and be the leader that he was this year is a testament to what an incredible young man he is.”
This summer, Kelley went to football camps at Eastern Illinois, Indiana State and Penn and an Elite 11 camp in Nashville, Tennessee, along with a showcase at Northwestern. The Bull Dogs also took part in a team camp at Indiana University.
Kelley thinks he got better this year fundamentally and throwing the football.
“I think I had a better grasp of the offense and became an overall better quarterback,” Kelley said. “It was a great season altogether. I think our biggest accomplishment was definitely winning Conference Indiana this year. That was a feature we haven’t done in quite some time in this program.”
Eastern Illinois and Morehead State have offered scholarships to Kelley. He also is looking at Indiana State and possibly walking on at IU or Purdue. Purdue has reached out to him about being a preferred walk-on.
Kelley, who plans to major in either business or engineering, currently is playing basketball for North. He doesn’t have a timetable for making his college decision.
“I’m not really too sure yet,” Kelley said. “I’m just playing basketball and being a student right now. But when the time is right, I’ll decide.”
After basketball season, the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Kelley will get back to working out for football in preparation for college.
“I’ll start training again and definitely hit the weight room hard and try to gain weight and become a better quarterback,” Kelley said.
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The 2018 Republic All-Area Football team:
OFFENSE
Quarterback
Trenton Kelley, Columbus North: The senior completed 145 of 230 passes for 1,772 yards and 16 touchdowns and added three rushing scores.
Quarterback
Cole Gilley, Columbus East: The junior completed 148 or 246 passes for 2,463 yards and 28 touchdowns and added one rushing score.
Running back
Blake Huffman, Columbus North: The sophomore carried 224 times for 1,231 yards and 12 touchdowns and caught 28 passes for 314 yards and three scores.
Running back
Mark McDonald, Columbus East: The sophomore carried 215 times for 1,463 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Wide receiver
Dalton Back, Columbus East: The junior caught 47 passes for 758 yards and seven touchdowns.
Wide receiver
Cody Horner, Columbus East: The senior caught 32 passes for 748 yards and eight touchdowns.
Wide receiver
Preston Terrell, Columbus North: The sophomore caught 46 passes for 487 yards and five touchdowns.
Tight end
Mitchel Collier, Columbus North: The junior caught 10 passes for 94 yards and helped lead an offensive line that paved the way for 358.3 yards and 32.0 points per game.
Tight end
Isaac VanCuren, Columbus East: The senior caught 11 passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns and helped lead an offensive line that paved the way for 357.7 yards and 38.0 points a game.
Offensive line
Noah Algee, Columbus North: The senior helped lead an offensive line that paved the way for 358.3 yards and 32.0 points per game.
Offensive line
Jacob Bolte, Columbus East: The senior helped lead an offensive line that paved the way for 357.7 yards and 38.0 points a game.
Offensive line
Jacob Sitterding, Columbus East: The senior helped pave the way for 357.7 yards and 38.0 points a game.
Offensive line
Dalton Anderson, Columbus East: The senior helped pave the way for 357.7 yards and 38.0 points a game.
Offensive line
J.J. Montgomery, Columbus North: The sophomore helped pave the way for 358.3 yards and 32.0 points per game.
DEFENSE
Defensive line
Julian Greenwell, Columbus East: The senior recorded 77 tackles, including three sacks and 17 for losses, and had a fumble recovery.
Defensive line
Cory Harden, Columbus East: The junior recorded 75 tackles, including 6 1/2 sacks and 19 for losses, and had one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.
Defensive line
Montez Mitchell, Columbus North: The junior recorded 66 tackles, including one sack, and had one fumble recovery and one blocked punt.
Defensive line
Will Redding, Columbus North: The senior recorded 45 tackles, including two sacks, and had a fumble recovery.
Linebacker
Nash Murphy, Columbus East: The senior led the Olympians with 151 tackles, including four for losses, and had a fumble recovery.
Linebacker
Parker Harrison, Columbus East: The sophomore recorded 120 tackles, including two sacks and nine for losses, and had an interception, a fumble recovery and a blocked punt.
Linebacker
Tay Wells, Columbus North: The senior recorded 75 tackles, including one sack.
Linebacker
Landon Robbins, Columbus North: The junior led the Bull Dogs with 77 tackles.
Defensive back
Jonah Wichman, Columbus East: The senior recorded 97 tackles, four interceptions, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Defensive back
Trevor Foster, Columbus East: The senior recorded 88 tackles, one interception and one blocked field goal.
Defensive back
Riley Ables, Columbus North: The senior recorded 54 tackles and one interception.
Defensive back
Jalen Paswater, Columbus North: The senior recorded 31 tackles and one interception and blocked a punt for a touchdown.
SPECIALISTS
Kicker
Dylan Boswell, Jennings County: The senior converted 3 of 5 field goals, with a long of 48 yards, and 19 of 19 extra points.
Punter
Sam Thomasson, Columbus East: The senior averaged 38.9 yards per punt and also converted 6 of 7 field goals and 68 of 71 extra points.
Kick returner
Lance Greiwe, Columbus East: The junior averaged 28.4 yards per kickoff return, with one touchdown, and also carried 128 times for 654 yards and 17 scores and caught 14 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns.
Honorable mention
Brown County: Noah Carter, Brandon Fleischman, Devon Smith-Harden. Columbus East: Xander Brotzman, Tyler Settle. Columbus North: Jackson Davis, Bradley Gutierrez, Jackson Payne, D’Andre Scruggs. Edinburgh: Bryce Burton, Tyson Sackman. Jennings County: Jared Corya, Owen Deaton, Brooks Wathen. South Decatur: Kenny Meadows, Trent Nobbe, Jacobi Shook.
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