Middletown QB sacrifices big stats for wins

Three-year starter threw for fewer yards as a senior, but made up for it with a 10-2 record and playoff games.

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By Skip Weaver, Staff Writer Updated 4:04 AM Sunday, December 6, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — Caleb Watkins knew this was going to be his final football season at Middletown High School, so he wanted to do something good with it.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior quarterback threw for fewer yards than he did in each of his past two seasons, but that unselfishness was just part of the reason the Middies posted a 10-2 record (only the second time in school history a team has had 10 wins in a season) and qualified for the Division I postseason for the first time in 19 years.

He’s thrown for 5,853 yards and 63 touchdowns in his three years as the starting quarterback, but none of that compares to taking his team to the playoffs.

“It stopped being about me throwing for 250 yards and a couple of touchdowns in a game this year,” said Watkins, the 2009 JournalNews Butler County Offensive Player of the Year. “It was about Antonio (Banks) getting his yards and us just doing everything we need to to win.”

Watkins, who completed 119-of-207 passes for 1,719 yards and 15 touchdowns this year, and rushed for another 513 yards and 11 touchdowns, received several other postseason awards this year. He was selected to the All-Ohio first team, named the Southwest District Offensive Player of the Year and made the Greater Miami Conference first team.

“The biggest lesson I learned was to listen to my coaches,” Watkins said. “It was a hard lesson to learn because I’m pretty hard-headed, but I realized that if I just listened everything would be OK. They know what is best for you. They know what they are talking about.”

Watkins wasn’t always a quarterback, however. In peewee football, he played mostly defense. It wasn’t until his freshman year that he earned a starting quarterback job.

“I just like to throw the ball,” Watkins said. “I was real nervous starting varsity my sophomore year, but the guys I had around me that I could throw to really helped. Building those relationships helped me calm down a lot.”

Watkins will now begin the next chapter in his football career. Following his early graduation from high school at the end of December, he’ll head north to Bowling Green State University where he will have a chance to become the Falcons starting quarterback.

“It’s going to be difficult to leave here,” Watkins said. “I know Chip (Robinson) and Blaec (Walker) up there already, but I’m still going to be on my own.”

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