On Friday night, Sept. 8, senior football player Casey Stanley walked onto South Charleston’s field needing two points to break the school’s kicking record.
When he came off the field he had six more points and a new school record with his name on it.
“Going into that game I knew I only needed two extra points to get it so we were just counting down, waiting for it,” Stanley said.
He and some of his teammates on the varsity football team were really excited all day long, waiting for the game that night. Stanley had 139 points and needed to beat the previous record of 140 points set by Connor Louden in 2004. He ended the game with 145 points and the Big Reds took home a win, 63-0.
When he got the goal that broke the record, the first person he celebrated with was junior Cooper Cancade, his holder and the backup quarterback. After the kick, Cancade said they gave each other a “big bear hug” but knew that they needed to stay focused to win the game. Cancade later acknowledged that the team wouldn’t be the same without Stanley.
“He’s a great athlete and a great person,” Cancade said.
Stanley said that all his teammates were running up to him and hugging and jumping on him. One of his favorite things about football is the brotherhood he’s formed with all the other members of the team.
“Everybody’s just out there for the same goal, doing the same thing every single day together, so you grow pretty close to them,” Stanley said.
Stanley has played football for five years, four of those at PHS. Before he played football he played soccer and a few years of tennis. He started football at Jackson Middle School to be the kicker because of his past experience playing soccer.
“That was going to be my plan but then it turned out I wasn’t too bad at a couple other things so I stayed with it,” Stanley said, who also plays wide receiver and running back.
As a senior he is an active member of T-Club. Most of his time is taken up by football but in the winter he also plays basketball for the Big Reds. Last year he was the shooting guard and occasionally the small forward. Stanley plans to play again this year but he isn’t sure what position he will play yet.
In the future Stanley plans to play football in college. He has talked to and is considering WVU, Coastal Carolina University, James Madison University and Ohio University. He is also trying to talk to Western Kentucky University.
He strongly encourages anyone interested in playing football or basketball to “just do it.”
“Just do it, hope for the best, go do it,” Stanley said. “There are a lot of people who hold back and don’t really do it anymore but my advice is ‘keep going’. Do it with people you love and you’re friends with and you’ll have a good time with it.”
