Eagles, Cougars, Lancers in new football conference; Panthers look to build

Brown County posted its first winning season in more than a decade, and this year, the Eagles will be in a new conference for football.

The Mid-Indiana Football Conference is being revived and will include former members Edinburgh and South Decatur. Brown County moves from the Western Indiana Conference, although it remains in the WIC for all other sports.

Here is a look at those three teams, along with Jennings County, going into the 2025 season:

Brown County

The Eagles went 6-5 in Tony Bell’s first year at the helm, recording their first winning season since 2013.

“With our schedule, we’re going to be playing more like opponents, and I feel like week-in-and-week-out, we’re going to be more successful,” Bell said. “We’re looking forward to this new schedule.”

Bell got a look at his team in action Friday when it scrimmaged at Eastern Greene.

“All in all, it was a pretty evenly-matched competition,” Bell said. “Probably where we had the most success was offensively. We have a lot of guys going both ways, so we have to get some younger guys some experience for sure.”

Five starters return on both sides of the ball. Bell’s son Quentin Bell, who played quarterback for his father at Crawford County as a freshman and sophomore and receiver, running back and a little quarterback last year at Brown County, takes over full-time under center.

Seniors Asher Stringer and Grayson Mitchell and sophomore Joe Anderson could see action in the backfield. Senior Coltyn Swisher and sophomore Preston McNeely step in at wide receiver, and junior Kyle Cobb will be a slot receiver/tight end .

Senior Eli Young and sophomore Hayden Taylor return at tackle. Senior Aiden Hadley is back at guard, and Waylon Reeves returns at center. Sophomore Caleb Fouts will be the other guard.

The Eagles employ a 4-3 defense. Taylor returns at end, and senior PJ McMasters will be at the other end. Seniors Eli Connell and Hadley step in at tackle.

Stringer is back at middle linebacker and will be flanked by Anderson and sophomore Curtis Reeves on the outside. Swisher returns at cornerback, where he will be joined by with Mitchell. Quentin Bell and Cobb are back at safety.

“Early on, it’s going to be tough because of how many guys can play four quarters,” Tony Bell said. “I have some backup guys that once they get some experience, they’re going to start thriving. It’s just a matter of getting them some confidence.”

Jennings County

The Panthers will try to bounce back after a young and inexperienced team went 0-10 in Jason Burton’s first year as coach.

“Generally speaking, we look to continue building a football program from the ground up at Jennings County,” Burton said. “After a tough year in 2024, with a complete roster turnover including playing just three guys with Friday experience and freshmen all over the field on Fridays, we look to turn the page to the 2025 season. We bring back all but two starters from last year’s team and have had a productive offseason in the first year of implementing my strength and athletic enhancement program. While program roster numbers will still be light in comparison to the conference and area programs, we have a great group of kids who are bought into building a program that is respected statewide.”

Sophomore Brady Franks took over as the starting quarterback midway through his freshman year. Sophomore running back Cam Patterson also started as a freshman and is joined in the backfield by sophomore Carsyn Lawson, senior Brandan McCory, junior Andrew Maschino and junior fullback Jace Cole.

Senior Nathan Harrison and sophomore Saban Messer return at receiver. Senior Reed Wilson and junior Kyle Byram will split time at tight end.

Senior guard Konner Brown anchors the offensive line, where he will be joined by senior Braxton McClanahan, juniors Rhett Burkman and Cooper Lane and freshman Lucas Gunn.

Byram and Brown will be the defensive ends, with juniors Gomie Gomez and Casey Rains at tackle.

Burkman returns at middle linebacker. Junior outside linebacker Braxton Walton is back after missing last season with an injury. Seniors Reed Wilson and Alex Brooks are battling for the other linebacker spot.

McCory and senior Bransyn Josephson return at cornerback, and Harrison and junior Khycen Sutton are back at safety. Junior Keegan Wheeler also could see action in the secondary.

“The Panthers are steadily improving, and have a long term plan for the program,” Burton said. “A productive 2025 season heading into changes for 2026, should allow the program to take the next steps in the rebuilding process after a history of lack of success.”

South Decatur

The Cougars will be young and low on numbers with only four seniors among 23 total players.

“We have talent,” South Decatur coach Rodney Martin said. “Our three seniors are talented. Our junior group is talented and will help. Our sophomore class is our big class, and we’re relying on a lot of those guys, but they played as freshmen last year. Then, we have two freshmen that are going to be playing. We’re going to be young, but we do return quite a bit of experience.”

Martin’s son, sophomore Ryker Martin takes over at quarterback after playing tight end last year. Junior Jayden Jackson-Ray returns at running back and will be joined by sophomore Emmytt McFarland and junior Kagen Wren. Seniors Garrett Huckelberry and Josh Winkler are back at receiver

Sophomore Elan Phelps returns at tackle, with sophomore Dalton Shouse filling the other tackle spot. Sophomores Ladd Hampton and senior Layden Ponslor are back at guard. Sophomore Miles Wall steps in at center after being injured last year.

The Cougars use a multiple defense, with a base 3-4. Phelps and Ponsler return at end, and Hampton is back at nose tackle

McFarland and Wren return at inside linebacker. Junior Dalton Smith and freshman Kyler Leary step in at outside linebacker.

The entire secondary returns with Huckelberry and Winkler at the corners, Jackson-Ray at strong safety and Ryker Martin at free safety.

Senior Brayden Meadows could see action on the offensive line and middle linebacker. Freshman Brody Bolton could play in the defensive secondary.

The Cougars, who went 4-5 last year, played Union County in Friday’s scrimmage.

“We did well,” Rodney Martin said. “As always, I told the guys going in, we wanted to see where we’re at. We’re a young team, but overall, our kids executed pretty well.”

Edinburgh

The Lancers are fortunate to have a team this year after after losing 12 seniors to graduation from a team that went 0-10. They had less than 20 players this summer, but were up to 24 in practice last week.

“We were having low numbers in the summer and got closer and closer to the season,” Edinburgh coach Tyler DeSpain said. “Our athletic director said if we can’t get at least 18 or 19 kids, we’re going to have to look at maybe not going forward. We’ve picked up a few kids and have 24 now.”

Senior Samson Parkhurst, who began last year at receiver before moving from to quarterback midway through the season because of an injury to the starter, will be back under center. Sophomores Chase Smock and Landon Clouse saw action at running back as freshmen.

Senior Braylon Lenkner, who is playing high school football for the first time after playing tennis in the past, will be at receiver, along with sophomore Xander Pruitt and senior Kevin Garcia.

Junior Gerardo Colon returns at tackle, sophomore Colton Burton is back at guard and junior Mason Myers returns at center. Sophomore Richard Gonzalez-Hernandez will fill the other tackle spot, with sophomore Adam Prather stepping in at guard.

“Samson is more of a mobile quarterback than we’ve had in the past,” DeSpain said. “He’s the best athlete on our team, so that will be good for us. I think we have a good running game. The duo of Chase and Landon, and getting a good portion of our offensive line back, that will help, as well.”

In a 4-2-5 junior Daniel Crisanpo and Prather will be the ends, with Myers and Burton at tackle. Smock and Clouse return at linebacker.

Garcia and Parkhurst are back at safety. Lenkner will play the hybrid safety position, and Pruitt and sophomore Taiden Boknecht step in at cornerback.

“We’re still kind of young,” DeSpain said. “We’re heavy sophomores and juniors. We’re still a little bit inexperienced.”