Aaron Redmon kicks a field goal during the 2023 season. On Friday, he will compete in the North/South All-Star Classic.
Submitted Photo
CHARLOTTESVILLE — Eastern Hancock’s Aaron Redmon may have already graduated from the school earlier this summer, but he’ll get one more chance to represent the Royals, and one more chance to compete on the gridiron.
On Friday night, the punter/kicker will gear up one final time in the 58th Annual Murat Shrine North/South Football All-Star Classic, to be held at Decatur Central High School. He’ll be a member of the South team along with New Palestine’s Grayson Thomas.
“I’m super excited,” Redmon said. “It’s a big honor for me to get to go and play one more time.”
While the skillset and the chances to continue his football career at the collegiate level were there, Redmon decided it was in his best interest to take a chance at a job opportunity rather than go to college. With his stepdad working at Duke Energy, Redmon is taking training classes there in hopes of becoming a lineman.
“There were thoughts about continuing playing for a while, but I’m not into school and all of that,” Redmon said. “I had a good job opportunity to go and do, so I didn’t want to pass that up.”
With that decision made, Friday night will serve as a final goodbye to the sport that he fell in love with all the way back in third grade.
“All of my friends already played it and they talked me into playing,” Redmon said. “The first season I went out and I played I loved it, and I’ve just loved it ever since.”
That love of the sport continued on through this past season at Eastern Hancock. In his final high school season, Redmon put up school-record numbers and was named All-Mid-Eastern Conference and All-Hancock County.
As the kickoff taker for the Royals, he averaged 44.8 yards per kickoff and had 17 touchbacks, and as the field goal kicker he had one of the best seasons in school history.
He was 31-for-39 on PATs and was 5-for-7 on field goal attempts. The five made field goals were the most in a single Eastern Hancock season.
His best game came in the opening round of sectional play against Lapel. In a 45-43 win over the Bulldogs, Redmon tied the school record for longest field goal with a 42-yarder and finished off the victory with a game-winning 29-yard field goal in the closing seconds.
He ended his Royals career with a school-record nine made field goals and sits third in all-time PATs with 80.
Along with kicking, he also made an impact punting for the Royals. He averaged 36.2 yards per punt, had 796 total punt yards and pinned three punts inside the 20-yard line.
On Friday, he’ll be primarily punting.
“I started out as a tight end, and then in seventh grade, we were messing around at practice and that’s how I found out that I was good at it,” Redmon said.
Those numbers helped Eastern Hancock go 8-5, win their first sectional championship since 2014 and their first conference title since 2019.
For Redmon, it was the perfect way to end his career.
“It was great. Every game the fans and the environment were great, and the coaches were always great even though I had three different ones in my time there,” Redmon said. “It was awesome to be able to play there for the community because they care about the team so much.”
He’ll get to witness that community support one more time at Decatur Central on Friday.
“I know a lot of friends and family and people that I played with that are going to the game,” Redmon said. “It’ll be fun to play for them one more time.”
And while it’ll be exciting for him to represent Eastern Hancock one more time, for him, the most important thing is that he gets to put on the football pads one final time.
“I just want to go have some fun,” he said. “I’m glad I get to play one more time.”
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58th Annual Murat Shrine North/South Football All-Star Classic
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Friday, July 12, 2024
Time: Kickoff at 7 p.m. EST
Place: Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis
GAME TICKET INFORMATION
Adults: In advance ($8.00), At the gate ($10.00), Online at Go Fan ($11.00)
Students: In advance ($4.00), At the gate ($5.00), Online at Go Fan ($6.00)
Go Fan: https://gofan.co/event/1526592?schoolId=IN86890
