The tradition of Warren Central football is not lost on Damien Shanklin.
When he was a sixth grader, Shanklin sat in the bleachers at North Central — on the Warren Central side, of course — for the Class 6A regional showdown on a cold, windy November night that numbed the fingers and toes. David Bell’s 63-yard punt return early in the fourth quarter put Warren Central ahead to stay on the way to a 42-32 victory; two weeks later, the Warriors wrapped up an undefeated 2018 season with a state title — the ninth in program history.
“I was sitting there and spilled hot cocoa on my shoes,” Shanklin said of that night. “Red and white Jordan 9s. I remember all of that.”
Warren Central’s Damien Shanklin poses for a photo Thursday, August 3, 2023, at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis.
Those were impactful memories for the 6-5, 245-pound Shanklin, who made the trip to Louisville in Week 2 of that season and watched the Warriors upset nationally ranked Louisville Trinity, 42-41. He went to almost every game in between, including a 27-7 win over Carmel in the state championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“We had fun, met new people,” Shanklin said. “Later on, at the state game, they let me chill with the team. We were playing on the fifth and sixth grade travel team, so we got to hang out with those guys.”
Since that night of Nov. 23, 2018, it has been a mixed bag of success for Warren Central. Then-coach Jayson West stayed two more seasons, going 8-4 and 4-6, respectively, before taking the job at Franklin Central. Warren Central alum Mike Kirschner, after leaving Ben Davis off a state championship season in 2017, built Mt. Vernon into a power in three seasons. He returned to Warren Central and has led the Warriors to two sectional titles with an overall record of 16-17 in three years.
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/one-nations-top-recruits-damien-083108952.html
Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star
Publish date : 2024-05-20 08:31:08
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