On their own, each of the individual and team accomplishments that Center Grove enjoyed during the 2019 calendar year were impressive.
Not until you go back and try to compile a list of the top 10 Johnson County sports stories of the last 12 months do you realize just how many of those accomplishments there were.
Ideally, this list ends up with representation from as many different schools and communities as possible — but with apologies to the rest of the county, 2019 belonged primarily to the Trojans.
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Whether it was state championship teams or major individual accomplishments, Center Grove dominated the local sports landscape for most of the year. You may consider that a good thing or you may not, but it’s impossible to deny that reality.
So with that in mind, here’s our very red-heavy list of the top 10 (fine, 11 — we couldn’t in good conscience leave any of these out) sports stories of 2019:
1. Closing statement
Heading into the last week of April, Center Grove’s softball team had a 10-3 record under first-year coach Alyssa Coleman. The Trojans proceeded to win their next 18 games, capping the run with a 1-0 win over Leo in the Class 4A state final. Senior pitcher Abby Herbst, now at the University of Wisconsin, saved her absolute best for last, yielding zero earned runs in her last 80 innings (and closing with a three-hit shutout in the title game) on the way to Miss Softball honors.
2. Big man on campus
Johnson County hasn’t produced a basketball player like Trayce Jackson-Davis since, well, ever. The 6-foot-9 forward led Center Grove’s boys to the Class 4A semistate, averaging 22 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots. He was named Indiana Mr. Basketball, the first county player to earn that honor since 1941, and became the first local player ever chosen as a McDonald’s All-American. Jackson-Davis moved on to Indiana University, where he’s leading the Hoosiers in scoring, rebounding and blocks.
3. Twice as nice
Franklin’s swimming teams not only matched their historic 2018 seasons, they surpassed them. The Grizzly Cubs placed second to Carmel at both the girls and boys state meets. Senior Jacob Destrampe, an individual champion in the 200-yard freestyle in 2018, closed out his high school career with first-place state finishes in the 50 and 100 freestyle.
4. Almost famous
August was unkind to the Center Grove football team, which lost running back Carson Steele to an injury and dropped its first three games. Eric Moore’s team found its groove when it mattered, however, advancing all the way to the Class 6A championship game before falling just short against Carmel, 20-17. With most of their biggest stars, including Steele and Daily Journal Defensive Player of the Year Caden Curry, returning, the Trojans will be facing even higher expectations in 2020.
5. Untouchable
Center Grove’s Brayden Littell made the most of his only full season of high school wrestling. The diminutive 120-pounder dominated his competition as a junior, posting a perfect 44-0 record with a school-record 30 pins on the way to an individual state championship. Out this season with a knee injury, Littell will continue his wrestling career next winter at Ohio University.
6. Taking on the world
It was another busy year on the links for Center Grove graduate Erica Shepherd, who teamed with Megan Furtney to win the USGA Women’s Amateur Four-Ball title in the spring and enjoyed a pair of top-40 finishes at LPGA Tour events before taking her skills to Duke University, where she moved right into the lineup for the reigning NCAA women’s golf champion.
7. A familiar finish
Claiming state hardware has become an annual rite of passage for Center Grove’s boys golf team, which tied for second place at the state finals in June. It was the third straight top-two finish and the fourth in the last five years for the Trojans. Junior Alex Heck tied for sixth individually.
8. Still, they persisted
Despite a rash of injuries, including an emergency appendectomy that kept Wisconsin-bound setter Madison Hammill sidelined for a month, Center Grove’s volleyball team took down nemesis Providence in the regional final and took the first set off of New Castle, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, before coming up short in the Class 4A semistate.
9. Legendary coaches move on
In June, Franklin wrestling coach Bob Hasseman stepped down after a 33-season run that saw him establish the Grizzly Cubs as a state powerhouse. Another local legend called it a career in November, when longtime Franklin College football coach retired as the Grizzlies’ all-time win leader.
10. Breaking through
The state quarterfinals had marked the end of the road for the Center Grove girls tennis team in most recent seasons. But the 2019 Trojans broke through, sweeping Washington in the quarters to advance to the semifinal round for the first time since 2010.
11. One for the ages
After totaling just five wins over the previous four seasons, Franklin’s football team put together one of the best seasons in school history, winning its first five games for the first time in 50 years and finishing with an 8-3 record, matching the 1981 squad for the best mark in the past five decades. Quarterback Drew Byerly was named to the IFCA’s Top 50 All-State team.
