BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School is coming off a rough 2024 varsity football season that saw the Indians win just two games, so some of the players who’ll be taking the field this year have taken some lumps and, hopefully, improved.
However, Keystone is fielding a team that is heavy on youth, with only two returning senior starters.
Also, as has been the case in recent years, depth is an issue.
“It’s a thin group — young and thin,” Head Coach Steve Reynolds said. “Our sophomore group’s good. Our freshman group’s good-sized and getting better. It’s just unfortunate for them that we don’t have a lot of juniors, and we don’t have a lot of seniors.”
The two returning senior starters are Luke Bacorn and Pete Bostic. Both play on the offensive and defensive lines, while Bacorn will also look to play tight end. Both earned Al-Clay County honorable mention last season as offensive linemen.
“Pete and Luke are the leaders of the team,” Reynolds said, adding, “Both of them have a lot of reps, a lot of snaps. They bring valuable experience to our front.”
Some other players who’ll be in the mix along the line of scrimmage (offensively and defensively) include junior Tyler Kerner and sophomores Logan Madden-Moore and Juan Palma. Reynolds said Madden-Moore and Palma both got unexpected varsity snaps last year.
“Now, they’re like settled into starting or competing for roles,” Reynolds said.
The Indians have a lot of inexperience when it comes to the varsity level lining up behind the offensive line. Junior Cole Crabtree will step in as the new starting quarterback, while the returning leading rusher is sophomore Hunter Crumpton,
who had approximately 100 yards on almost 30 carries. Freshman Mikey McCall will be in the running back mix, too, as will Colin Goetzman, a senior who moved from Hawaii.
Reynolds said Goetzman is still learning the offense, while he described McCall as a “Swiss Army Knife” who can play multiple positions and who has a “bright future.”
Some of the players who could line up at wide receiver include juniors Micah Screen and De’shawn Williams. Reynolds said both “now are ready to get after it and participate and play and compete.”
On the defensive side of the ball, two key players will be linebackers Crumpton Trase Wooden. Wooden, a sophomore, is the returning leading tackler after the Indians lost their top seven tacklers from last year.
“Hunter Crumpton and Trase Wooden have starting experience in big varsity games at linebacker, so they’ll be a big help,” Reynolds said, adding, “Hunter is fast and hard to block. Trase is big and physical, and he’s playing downhill more than he was before.”
Crabtree, McCall, Screen and Williams will be in the mix in the defensive secondary, as will freshman Coy Campbell.
“Coy knows his secondary responsibilities as good as anybody in our system,” Reynolds said. “It’s going to be hard to keep him off the field.”
Junior Ryder Thomas will step in as the team’s new placekicker.
The Indians will host Ridgeview in a preseason kickoff classic on Friday, Aug. 15, at 7 p.m. Keystone then gets the season started with a home game against Interlachen on Friday, Aug. 22, at 7:30 p.m.
Reynolds said his team, of course, will plan and scheme based on who the opponent is, but he wants his players to pay more attention to their roles and not on who’s lining up across from them.
“What we’re really going to do is focus on what we need to do to get better and just try to compete, no matter who’s there,” Reynolds said.
It’s all about grinding toward improvement as a player and, hopefully, as a team overall.
“I want them to prepare every day to the best of their ability and keep filling up the jar because eventually you get there,” Reynolds said.
Click on the following for the Indians’ full schedule: 2025 KHHS Schedule
