MONTICELLO ― Large gauze and an ace bandage are wrapped around the left wrist of Twin Lakes offensive lineman Matthew “Chewie” Walters.
The junior offensive lineman embodying the toughness and grit being displayed by himself and his head coach Kevin O’Shea.
Walters has torn ligaments in his left wrist, while O’Shea is battling a back injury so severe, he’s being forced to ride around in an electric wheelchair to navigate the sidelines.
But if there’s anything Walters has learned from his Indiana Football Hall of Fame coach: do your job no matter the obstacle, and success will follow.
A demonstrative performance at the line of scrimmage destroyed any confidence Central Catholic entered with on Friday, Sept. 12. Walters blocked and pounded the inexperienced line of the Knights to help Twin Lakes scored 42 points in the first half, en route to a punishing 52-3 over Central Catholic.
The win secured Twin Lakes (4-0) its first victory over Central Catholic since 2018.
“I’ve learned that if you can play, you gotta play and you gotta be tough,” Walters said, “There’s a different kind of air in this locker room, around this team and there’s not a chance I’m not going to be part of this with the boys.”
Twin Lakes hasn’t won four straight games to start a season since 2020.
“This week, our coaches put us in a great position to win,” Twin Lakes quarterback Cooper Dold said. “We just had to go out there and execute, and we did. On offense, we were firing on all cylinders, and defense gave us some great stops to put pressure on them.”
Central Catholic struggles in loss
Central Catholic (1-3) struggled from its first drive and fumbled a punt that Twin Lakes recovered six yards from the end zone. Twin Lakes senior Carson Wagner rushed for his first of three touchdowns on his team’s first offensive play.
“We just got to keep getting better week to week,” Central Catholic coach Brian Nay said.
Fragile and in agony as O’Shea was in, he managed to keep coaching with four wheels. A night filled with anticipation ended with glee for the former Central Catholic coach, getting his first win against his old team.
O’Shea commended his assistant coaches for prepping Twin Lakes, who dominated in all facets of the game.
“My back issues are pretty severe, and I only made it to two 40-minute blocks this week,” O’Shea said. “All of my assistants, some of them that have been with me for three years did a heck of a job to get our kids prepared mentally to play this game. And our kids came out and played their tails off.
“It was every kid. Everybody contributed offensively, defensively and special teams, and I’m so proud of my players and my assistant coaches.”
Walters, along with a soft cast in hand, disrupted Central Catholic with senior Tate Goyer.
Walters made eight tackles on defense, including three for loss and Goyer had a sack and pushed the Knights around on offense.
Complete performance
Dold threw three touchdowns, including a 67-yard TD pass to Ethan Need, part of two the pair connected for in the second quarter before a 22-yard TD pass to Keaton Miller.
Senior Carson Wagner rushed for 106 yards on his first four carries and three touchdowns and Twin Lakes bolted to an 21-0 lead after the first quarter.
Junior Ledger Shaffer returned a 72-yard interception for a touchdown to cement Twin Lakes’ victory in the third quarter.
“He wasn’t here for most of the week, but when (O’Shea) was here, he was making sure we weren’t going to mess up and telling us he believes in us and making sure we have confidence in ourselves,” Need said.
Twin Lakes receives a major test for Hoosier Conference supremacy when it hosts Logansport next Friday, Sept. 19, while Central Catholic travels to face crosstown rival West Lafayette.
Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@jconline.com, on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Twin Lakes football rallies around injured coach Kevin O’Shea, defeats Central Catholic
Reporting by Ethan Hanson, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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