<p><strong>C</strong>enter Grove football coach Eric Moore is big on tradition. He’s regularly in attendance at Bantam games, keeping an eye on the next generation of Trojan stars, and he’s long encouraged his varsity players to show up as well.</p><p>Carson Steele remembers the great running backs that preceded him in the Center Grove backfield taking him under their wing, and he’s been paying it forward — more so this year than ever before. After each game, he could be found signing autographs and posing for pictures with youngsters who hope to be just like him in a few years.</p><p>“While everyone else is at the restaurant hanging out with their girlfriends, he’s there taking care of all those little kids, making sure they all want to be great Trojans when they grow up,” Moore said of Steele. “Just like Titus McCoy did when he was a youngster, making sure that, ‘Hey, I’m passing the torch to you.’”</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>Steele will finally be passing the torch after a storied four-year career, one that he capped off by leading the Trojans to a 14-0 record and the Class 6A state championship. The senior earned Indiana Mr. Football honors last week, and it should come as little surprise that he’s also the Daily Journal’s Offensive Player of the Year.</p><p>Sidelined by injury for much of his junior season, Steele came back with a vengeance this fall, rushing for 1,659 yards and 31 touchdowns and adding seven pass receptions for 152 yards and two more scores.</p><p>He wound up breaking 16 single-season and career school records in 2020.</p><p>“Coming off those injuries and stuff, it was just kind of weird,” Steele said of his late-season return last fall. “Those last three games my junior year, I wasn’t fully 100%. I knew this year, my body was fully rested, ready to go, and the first couple of games, I finally felt like I was back in that groove of freshman and sophomore year.”</p><p>The “War Horse” didn’t have to carry nearly as heavy a workload as he did when he averaged nearly 30 carries a game in 2018, but he was always ready to do so when needed.</p><p>Moore says that Steele is perhaps the toughest player he’s ever coached, the epitome of what you want a football player to be — and he’s been that throughout his career.</p><p>“If you’re a coach,” Moore said, “you walk in there, and you have a sophomore that’s just run the ball 18 times in the first half against Ben Davis or Warren Central or Carmel, and he’s bleeding from his knuckles and his elbows and his knees, but he still has a smile on his face — as a player, you think, ‘Man, I want to play for that guy and with that guy.’”</p><p>And the younger players coming up through the Center Grove pipeline now all want to be just like him.</p><p>Steele is well aware of how he’s viewed by those kids, because he used to be one of them.</p><p>“It’s a very important role to me, because a bunch of those kids look up to kids like us,” Steele said. “I remember the same when I was younger. Just having one of those kids come up to me and talk to me, it was just the highlight of your day.”</p><p>Of course, Steele has long since surpassed all of those former Trojan greats that he once idolized. He’s the first Mr. Football winner in Center Grove’s storied history, and he’s obliterated every school rushing record that stood before his arrival.</p><p>He has become the logo for Moore’s program, and regardless of where he ends up playing football for the next four or five years, Steele will always have that Trojan red coursing through his veins.</p><p>“Going on to college, it’s not going to be the same,” he said. “We have people coming back from colleges and stuff, and they tell us all the time, ‘It’s not the same as Center Grove football.’”</p><p>And Center Grove football won’t be quite the same without him. But it’s time for the torch to be passed.</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="All-County team: Offense" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>The 2020 All-County offense for football:</p><p><strong>QB Tayven Jackson, Center Grove junior:</strong> Passed for 1,756 yards and 17 TDs in leading Trojans to state title, rushing for six other scores … Earned Class 6A Junior All-State honors … Has picked up Big Ten and SEC scholarship offers.</p><p><strong>RB Connor Fruits, Indian Creek senior:</strong> Accounted for more than half of the Braves’ offensive output, rushing for 1,493 yards and catching 11 passes for 176 more … Scored 22 TDs (19 rushing, 3 receiving).</p><p><strong>RB Ethan Haessig, Greenwood senior:</strong> Garnered All-Mid-State Conference recognition after rushing for 1,527 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Woodmen … Gained 100 yards or more in all but two games.</p><p><strong>RB Carson Steele, Center Grove senior:</strong> Named Indiana Mr. Football after capping career with 1,659 yards and 31 TDs on the ground … Caught seven passes for 156 yards and two scores … Leading rusher and scorer in school history.</p><p><strong>RB Chase Valentine, Whiteland senior:</strong> Rushed for a county-high 1,820 yards and scored 23 touchdowns (20 rushing, 3 receiving) for the sectional champion Warriors … A Class 5A Senior All-State selection.</p><p><strong>OL Sam Buras, Center Grove junior:</strong> Massive (6-foot-8, 315 pounds) right tackle helped pave the way for a dominating Trojan offense that scored 79 touchdowns and gained well over 5,000 yards.</p><p><strong>OL Collin Campbell, Greenwood senior:</strong> Earned Class 4A Senior All-State and all-conference recognition as well as a spot on the Colts Academic All-State team … Helped the Woodmen rush for 3,159 yards in 10 games.</p><p><strong>OL Jordan Cox, Center Grove junior:</strong> One of the driving forces behind a Trojan offense that scored on 73 percent of its possessions on the way to a Class 6A state championship.</p><p><strong>OL Carter DeGraaf, Center Grove senior:</strong> Earned All-MIC and Class 6A Senior All-State honors as the center for an unbeaten juggernaut that scored 42 points per game … Committed to play at Illinois State.</p><p><strong>OL Ethan Myers, Whiteland senior:</strong> A four-year starter who garnered all-conference and Class 5A Senior All-State recognition after helping Warriors rush for 3,997 yards and win Mid-State and sectional championships.</p><p><strong>TE Garrett Keith, Center Grove senior:</strong> A repeat All-County pick who was a key blocker on the outside for the undefeated Trojans … Also caught four passes, three for touchdowns … Committed to Hillsdale College.</p><p><strong>TE Max Sullivan, Whiteland junior:</strong> Got Class 5A Junior All-State recognition after helping the Warriors win league and sectional titles … Caught seven passes for 133 yards and five TDs while adding 15 tackles (three for loss) as a defensive end.</p><p><strong>WR Connor Delp, Center Grove senior:</strong> Established a single-season school record with 801 yards receiving on 39 grabs … Also rushed for 206 yards, scoring eight total TDs for Class 6A state champions.</p><p><strong>WR Trent Veith, Center Grove senior:</strong> Hauled in 35 receptions on the year, including a 72-yard touchdown grab in the Class 6A state title game … Graduates as Trojans’ all-time receiving leader with 82 catches.</p><p><strong>K Austin Watson, Center Grove senior:</strong> A repeat All-MIC choice after converting six field goals and 62 of 64 point-after attempts for state champion Trojans … Put 31 kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.</p><p><span>Honorable mention</span></p><p>Noah Apgar, Greenwood; Jaxon Bolton, Whiteland; Landen Burton, Edinburgh; Jonathan Crowley, Whiteland; Caleb Dewey, Edinburgh; Elijah Duby, Franklin; Cameron Ford, Greenwood; Brayden Gardner, Greenwood; R.C. Hall, Indian Creek; Brant Kunz, Whiteland; Max Lancer, Franklin; Dalton Murray, Whiteland; Riley Palmeter, Edinburgh; Ernie Powell, Whiteland; Tayton Schakel, Whiteland; John Shepard, Franklin; Desmen Singleton, Whiteland; Brayden Sturm, Center Grove; Jalen Ward, Franklin; Daniel Weems, Center Grove; Austin Wiese, Center Grove; Landen Wood, Whiteland</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
