Editor's Cut: Center Grove Football

After working for the magazine since it's inception (which has been almost 18 months now), I've learned that you run across all kinds of different people. It's one of the cool parts about this gig - just meeting new faces every day/week/month and learning more about their lives, their stories.

But I've also learned that not every interview is a slam-dunk, walk-in-the-park quote fest. Sometimes you have to ask 30 different questions to get one straight answer - something, anything you can use.

It's not that a recorder laying on the table is intimidating - at least I hope that my recorder doesn't strike fear into interviewees (it's always seemed pretty harmless and I'm almost positive it doesn't bite). It's just that not everyone feels comfortable talking for 15-20 minutes about themselves.

So generally, when I head off to a school to interview a coach or a student-athlete, I have no idea what I'll get, or where the story will go. Such was the case when I went to Center Grove to chat with Trojans head football coach Eric Moore and four of his most talented seniors - Luke Swift, Anthony Elias, Jordan Luallen and Kyle Jones.

I walked away, not necessarily shocked, but pleasantly surprised. After roughly two hours on campus, I certainly had plenty of material to use for the story I did in the August issue. But I also had much respect for the kind-hearted, humble and gracious players.

Each one was genuine and seemed happy to talk to me - happy that the Trojans were getting some much deserved publicity heading into this season.

And there was so much I couldn't put into the story that I wanted to. Hey, 2,000-plus words was probably too much already.

I learned, for one, that the Trojans don't make excuses.

This team started off as one of the hottest in the state last fall, toppling Carmel in double-OT on the road and going 9-0 before falling to Warren Central in the final week of the regular season. But they were banged up - injuries mounted and more than likely cost the Trojans a chance to advance deep into the state tournament.

I'll say it - I saw CG twice in person last season and they certainly, at full strength, could have challenged Pike and Carmel in the title game.

But you wouldn't hear that, even nine months later, from these young men.

"You play with what you have," said Elias. "It's hard to swallow [last year's injuries], but everyone who can be hurt has been hurt. We're all healthy this year, for the most part."

More than anything, Luallen, Swift and Jones all spoke of how they envied how close the Columbus North team the Trojans lost to in sectionals was. A tight-knit group, the Bulldogs just seemed to refuse to lose, willing themselves to win and mainly for each other.

That's what this senior class at Center Grove wants in 2008.

And after listening to their stories, they've got it. Weekly bonfires and team gatherings. Trips to Chicago's pizza in Bargersville for a little bonding (and, predictably, pizza gorging).

Swift said that there's also a group of guys together following games, while Elias told me he thinks the team becomes tighter because of all the sweat and hard work put in during the offseason - when no one else is around and all the guys have are each other to push them.

Luallen thinks it's cool that "our entire senior class can get together and go swimming and just hang out. That goes a long way to what we do together on the field."

I found it fascinating that just weeks before the season was to open, in their media room (a darkened room with no light for tape sessions and team meetings) that of the five dry-erase boards, not one had a single play jotted down.

Nothing but inspirational quotes and youth league camp schedules.

And that's the way coach Moore wants it. As he told me, "The words they're supposed to choose from, that will define who we are and what we do this season - and it will define what they want after high school.

Moore continued, "If they pick words like wealth, success and stuff like that, then great - those are our words to live by. But we won't win. Thankfully, these guys are choosing trust, family, health and faith. We've got to live by, and we'll win because of, our commitment to those words."

Moore (no relation, I swear) was one of the coolest coaches I've ever talked to. Aside from his passion for the game and his deep knowledge of Xs and Os, he cares so much about his players futures and seems to truly enjoy just watching them grow as people and finding out what they do after school.

As I told him, I would have loved to have played for Moore - you know, if football would have stuck with me past seventh grade.

I got a kick out of the story Moore told me regarding the 'The Polar Express," which turned out to be the inspiration for the magazine article's lead and title. He was so passionate about it and truly believed that it was a rallying cry for 2007's team.

"I told my assistant, when we got to Carmel and heard those bells ringing by our parents, cheerleaders and booster club members, 'We're winning this game. It's over,"" said Moore during our interview.

He was right, to an extent. Emotionally drained afterward, Elias said Moore and the coaching staff were just sitting in the corner, with their shirts off. "Everyone had their phones out, taking pictures of the kettle."

It's the little things that are so inspiring and fun about this team - like Moore calling his players over during the Carmel game last year to tell them, not what play to run, but where they were going to celebrate after they did. Stuff like that only really happens in movies.

You don't find it in high school football often. Heck, you don't find that in high school sports very often.

--B.M.