Linton Miner Football

It's another one of those times where we lose a tremendous group of senior athletes that brought so much success across several sports at Linton High School. In my 26 years in the broadcast/streaming booth I'd put these kids up against any of the great Miner classes over the years as one of the best. They've gone up against possibly the hardest schedule we've seen at Linton, and have 2 of the greatest wins I've witnessed (Brownstown and Lutheran). They got Linton back to Lucas Oil, the first time in 2A, and have kept Miner Football at the high level of respect state wide. It will do doubt be a task to replace these seniors, but hopefully their example of team and what it takes will have been absorbed down the classes. So great to see Jimmie and Corey out there in red and blue for another go around. and I know it was hard for Paul to not suit up and get after it. Hopefully all three of these guys will make names for themselves at each institution they will be playing football at.

Paul Oliver will undoubtedly go down as one of the best Miner Football players to ever run onto the Roy. It would be interesting to see if LInton has ever had a guy who career wise ran for over 2500 yards, caught passes for over 1600 yards and threw for over 2000 yards. Hunter Gennicks ran for over 5100 yards and threw for nearly 4200 yards but never caught a pass. Tyler Meurer ran for over 3700 yards, passed for 2700+ and did have 264 receiving yards. Paul had 1164 rush yards as a soph. He played most his junior year at SE with great success. Senior year he moved back to QB in week 4, and ended up with 977 rush yards. Safe to say he'd of reach 1,000+ with those 3 games to start the season. I think it's easy to say had he played qb all of his junior year he'd of had another 1000 yard year....so he really could have been a 3-year 1,000+ rusher... BUT...the team came first and Paul excelled anywhere he was called to be. A true team player if there ever was one.

Corey Andrews broke the record for most tackles in a season with 195 and had 127 more his senior season. Add another 85 from his Soph season, his 1st at Linton, and you have an impressive 407 total as a Miner. Include 46.5 TFL...and this kid was a menace to every opponent. He had so many memorable hits its impossible to list just one... but boy..the wallup he put on the Sullivan kid his junior year was a doozie.

Jimmie comes from a rich Miner Football family tradition. I knew with the name "Wright" we were gonna have a hitter in the field. and a lot of heart. It was crushing when he played at TH North his junior year. And I knew it was crushing for him to come visit the Roy on the sidelines while his brothers were rolling in success all the way to Lucas. Jimmie suffered a head injury that year that I'll never forget seeing the Miner Team kneel in prayer post game for their teammate an hour away. It was so awesome to see him back his senior year in Miner Red. He was another Team player guy. He played several positions on both sides of the ball.

I could go on and on of course, and just keep repeating myself.... but I did the same thing in '16 when names like Meurer, WIlliams, Mason, Gentry, Passen, Fonseca, Smith, Pope, Walker, Rayburn and Sparks graduated..and '12 with Bradbury, AK, Kaiser, K***n, Flath, Lannan, Bohnert, and Deischerr with the Kicking Game Solid... '08 with Baysinger, Coleman, Tharp, Cunningham, Tibbett, Gentry, Tosti, Meurer, Barker, Wainman, Fish and more... and '04 with Willard, Suthard, Hardisty, Hunt, Laughlin, Thomas, Murray, jOnes, Phegley, Goggins... and 2015 was one of the all-time best teams with a class that graduated names like Phegley, Trent, Jackson, Clothier, Eberhard, Pigg, Phipps, and of course Dylan Morris. Point is... we've been here before. EVery graduating class we've had contained terrific Miner players and we've had to replace all of them year after year... Time for the young kids to step up and make their own names.

I finally scrounged up the rosters for each division for this Saturday's WVFCA all start game. Miners repped well with Corey Andrews and Jimmie Wright

WVFCA Black Division –

Gabe Dreher (Attica),
Landon Duncan (Cloverdale),
Atrevion Henderson (Cloverdale),
Owen McGinnin (Cumberland),
Logan Gerhardt (Cumberland),
Drake East (Cumberland),
Carter Eastham (Cumberland),
Elijah Eads (Dugger),
Byson Jones (Eastern Greene),
Jace Brown (Eastern Greene),
Trey Dobson (Greenwood Christian),
Isaiah Johnson (Greenwood Christian),
Cayden Blodgett (Greencastle),
Trevin Long (Greencastle),
Ashton Dayhoff (Greencastle),
Alex Grove (Greencastle),
Corey Andrews (Linton),
Jimmie Wright (Linton),
Oliver Stephens (Linton),
Collin Mann (Monrovia),
Noah Breeden (Monrovia),
Beckett Braeger (North Putnam),
Wes Murphy (North Putnam),
Casyn Bishop (North Daviess),
Clayton Colvin (North Daviess),
Zeb Owens (North Daviess),
Keaton Graber (North Daviess),
Andre Buchhaas (North Vermillion),
Shawn Martin (North Vermillion),
Carter Salters (Owen Valley),
Hayden Hammond (Owen Valley),
Carter Crippes (Paris), Logan Curl (Paris),
Christian Peace (South Vermillion),
Colton Rippy (South Vermillion),
Khalil Jefferson (South Putnam),
Preston Pelfrey (South Putnam),
Hunter Weddle (South Putnam),
Wyatt Speth (South Putnam),
Hayden Tincher (South Putnam),
Ryan Hescher (Terre Haute South),
TyIssac Corbin (Terre Haute South),
Sam Weihert (Terre Haute South),
Meredith Toomey (Terre Haute South),
Josial Bennett (Terre Haute South),
Harry Wetzel (Terre Haute South),
Gavin Baesler (Terre Haute South),
Chase Maxwell (Terre Haute South)

WVFCA Gold Division –

Brady Trebley (Cascade),
Toby Savini (Cascade),
Dayton Mink (Cascade),
Marcus Hobson (Cascade),
JT Roshong (Cascade),
Braxton Lewis (Cascade),
Bentley McClellan (Cascade),
Domonic Appleby (Cascade), N
iah Honselman (Casey-Westfield),
Brody Smith (Casey-Westfield),
Jack Julius (Casey-Westfield),
Noah Clement (Casey-Westfield),
Kellen Sullivan (Casey-Westfield),
Andrew Kuritz (Covington),
Carter Hayden (Edgewood),
Stephen Killion (Lawrenceville),
Zach Coffey (Lawrenceville),
Lucca Giannavola (Marshall),
Bryer Jansen (Marshall),
Gavyn Boden (Marshall),
Kaiden Sanders (Marshall),
Caden Bays (North Central),
Hunter Taylor (North Central),
Rylen Cox (North Central),
Kale Allen (Northview),
Avery Perry (Northview),
Devyn Orman (Northview),
Tristan Mackey (Northview),
Slade Fell (Northview),
Zane Scales (Northview),
Holden Jacobsen (Red Hill),
Avery Arbuckle (Red Hill),
Gavyn Cothern (Richland County),
Nolen Sears (Richland County),
Jace Paddock (Richland County),
Ian Pianfetti (Richland County),
Owen Kocher (Richland County),
Casey Thomann (Richland County),
Kolton Lanzone (Riverton Parke),
Sean Vester (Riverton Parke),
Jake Roderick (Riverton Parke),
Collett Sanders (Riverton Parke),
AJ Knoblett (Robinson),
Reese Johnson (Robinson),
Traishaun Brown (Terre Haute North),
Jackson McDonald (Terre Haute North),
Aiden Loveall-Levandoski (Tri-County),
Andrew West (Tri-County),
Ryan Cobb (West Vigo)

I posted this on the Gridiron Digest... where for many years Rex..as "King Tut" and myself..as "Miner Pride" did battle for Linton respect across the state in Football... climbing the ladder yearly until winning the State Championship in 2016. Rex was well known and well respected on the Digest for his knowledge and history and love of small town sports.
here is the post:

It is with great sadness I let all know who remember Rex Tuttle from his many posts and information particularly on the Linton Football Program. King Tut was his handle, and he was born in 1931, and had an incredible memory that provided many stories from years well gone from most minds today. Rex graduated Linton in 1949, and while he didn't play football, he was in band, and the band travelled to most games. He could recollect so many iconic Linton games, good and bad, with such clear vision. I'd interviewed him a few times in my Linton radio broadcasts, in particular the Sullivan rivalry because he was really the source in so many ways. With Rader Media, Kevin had done an video stream session with him that was timeless. I begged him to get a cassette recorder and just record his memories for posterity and history sake. So many others said the same thing. I saved a lot of things he posted from his time here just because there would never be another source for such things.

He had to stop going to games in person being well in his 90's but he always checked in online in our broadcasts. He always posted about Linton sports on his page, honestly right up to Linton's loss in basketball semi-state in Late March of this year. He even posted videos of himself playing his beloved trumpet, and could still do it well. I hadn't seen Rex in person in a while, but still regarded him as a friend and of course a die-hard loyal Linton Miner fan of every sport. We lost such a great mind, and a great person. I will miss his insight and comments during the seasons...particularly football.