By: Dane Massey

WINCHESTER, Ind. — The lights were bright on this final regular season addition of Friday Night Lights in Winchester, Indiana, as the Golden Falcons got the win over Union City (48-6) to extend their winning streak to three heading into the regional playoff against Shenandoah.

It started off in a battle in the first quarter with both sides finding the endzone once to make it a 7-6 game heading into the second quarter. However, this is where Winchester took over the game and scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter, which was highlighted by two rushing touchdowns and a pick six for the Golden Falcon defense.

However, they did not stop there. The momentum carried into the second half as the Golden Falcons forced another interception, which turned into a touchdown, and the offense continued to roll as the Falcons took the momentum all the way to another statement win.

The victory marked the end of the regular season for Winchester, but it also marked an interesting twist of a season that included some mighty highs and some crushing lows.

“This is the first night we've been healthy,” head coach Mike Jones said after the win against Union City. “We are finding our identity, and our identity can't be the same identity from teams in the past that they've played on. Everybody must develop their own individual identity in each team.”

Last year, the Golden Falcons finished with their best record since the 2015-16 season (10-3) as they finished 9-3 and were placed as one of the top seeds in the IHSAA State Playoffs. Despite falling short in the sectional championship, the aspirations for going further remained large coming into this season for head coach Mike Jones and his team.

Despite the desire to pick up where they started from last season, the Golden Falcons started the season losing its first four games of the season to drop the team in a hole early. Arguably the worst part of those losses was that three out of four of those games ended in one score games. After dropping to 1-5 on the year heading into the final stretch of the season, the dream to match the past seemed very dim.

However, something changed with this team when the calendar flipped to October and the team went to play Hagerstown. After the victory against the Tigers (28-21), the Falcons were winning, and not just winning decisively — they were also winning the close battles as well.

“We're losing so tight those first few weeks of the season against really good football teams,” Jones said. “I think that there was a little bit of a gap as to whether we needed someone that could mellow the group, and who could handle the pressure and become a leader. I really feel like Cam Baldwin stepped into that role the second half of the season.”

Sophomore Cam Baldwin was thrown in as the starting quarterback late in the season against Hagerstown. In a tightly contested game, Baldwin led the Golden Falcons to a victory (28-21), the first one-score game victory that had Winchester all season.

From there, the Golden Falcons improved under Baldwin. In a matchup against the Cambridge City Lincoln Golden Eagles, the Falcons dominated and scored over 60 points on their way to a 69-6 victory. Their second largest victory after beating Union County (77-8) just last month. Those two games alone made the list of the highest scoring games for Winchester since Mike Jones took over as head coach of the team in 2012.

“Being a quarterback at any level is challenging,” Jones said. “And I'm going to be honest, for a sophomore that touches the ball, we’re really pleased with that, and I’m pleased with him.”

Alongside Baldwin is junior running back Aidan Whitehead, who leads a dominant rushing attack with over 460 yards this season and is averaging over 6.7 yards per carry.

“[We were] coming together after those tough losses,” Whitehead said. “[We came together] in the locker room and everybody being a team and basically being a family with one another.”

Junior Caleb Hammel remains a lethal component of the special team’s unit. Taking kickoff returns, Hammel ranks as one of the best kick returners in the state. Averaging 41.6 yards per return, he leads the state in that category. Along with that, according to MaxPreps, he is also 15th in the state in return yards (416).

Kicking off for the Falcons is senior Aubrey Weigand, and despite the odds, Weigand has only missed two kicks this season, and she has been perfect with kicking and making all 29 PATs for the Golden Eagles this season. This has allowed Weigand to blossom into one of the most accurate kickers in the Tri Eastern Conference that includes Northeastern High School and Centerville High School among others.

Defensively, Winchester held their opponents to just 33 points in the month of October and ranked as one of best defensive teams in the conference holding their opponents to 123 total points as well as holding their last two regular season opponents to 12 points.

However, the most notable aspect about this stellar defense is the secondary, which has been a nuisance for their opponents’ passing games. To put in perspective as to how lethal this secondary is, they clawed in 10 interceptions this season, which is twice as much as the team interceptions national average for high school football. They also average at least one interception per game, which also breaks over the national average as well.

This year’s Winchester Golden Eagles football season has gone through its ups and downs, facing adversity all throughout the year. From recovering through injuries and battling close defeats to then going on a hot streak to end the season.

“I mean, our goal is to play,” Jones said. “Our goal in this program is to play in November every year. But I can tell you right now that we're happy with our draw. We think [it’s] challenging for sure, but it’s a grind man.”

Class Act articles are written by students in a classroom environment with a faculty adviser.

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