You could say that both Chase Elmore and Gavin George are like brothers, even though they aren’t related. The two have played football together since eighth-grade when they played Iron Man and played middle-school finished their senior year in high school together as well.
The Central Hardin football team really missed Elmore when he took over for Jacob Hobbs going into his junior year and suffered a season ending arm injury early in the season. The Bruins struggled the rest of the way winning just three-games finishing the worst record for the team since Tim Mattingly took over as head coach.
How much of a difference did Elmore make after his return in 2019?
“I can’t really explain it, but A LOT! Offense and Defense. He’s a Leader.” Said George.
The following season, Elmore was back and healthy as the Bruins offense that struggled to score points the previous season averaged nearly 40-points in nine of their twelve games. He sited the biggest challenge of running a Tim Mattingly offense was pre-snap reads and recognizing matchups.
Elmore, who showed such great promise in his junior year finally got to showcase his talent as the Bruins became one of two area teams which drew the attention of the media darlings. His stats were very impressive as he threw 186-passes, completing 121 for 2,431-yards and 16-Touchdowns while throwing only seven to the wrong color jerseys. In Central Hardin’s first eight games, the Bruins scored 373 of their 429-points and were making scoreboards lite up like a pinball machine. He also had two rushing touchdowns as his ability to move and rollout in the pocket gave the Bruins offense another dimension.
No one was more happy to see Elmore’s return last season than George, who like everyone else on the offense saw his numbers go up in 2019. George pulled down 62-catches for 1,374-yards in twelve games and scored 12-touchdowns as well and his ability to use his tall frame allowed him to reach balls and produce a big target for his quarterback.
The two were not just one dimensional as they played in the defensive backfield as well.
Elmore was responsible for 62-tackles and pulled down three interceptions.
George was in for 49-tackles and was on the end of nine interceptions as well.
That was one of the reasons why the Bruins won nine games, but also because this was a big senior class of brothers like the two and guys like Deounco Wilkerson, Shaun Hay, Logan Green, Kyler Lee and several others that played together for the past varsity seasons.
Almost forgotten was that the two also played basketball on the varsity team and when they both played their last game together in the District Tournament, I sensed a moment of finality.
Watching those two for the last several years as athletes even though they had been practically brothers in a sense most of their middle-school and teen years and now that was about to finally come to an end as they will both be attending different colleges doing slightly different things (outside of playing football).
Chase will be attending Campbellsville University on a football scholarship and wants to become a minister in his professional life.
Gavin will be going to Kentucky Wesleyan University on football as well and will work on his buisness degree.
Years after their college careers are over and they have moved on in their professions, hopefully the two will still come to games played back at Central Hardin Stadium and talk about all the great times and stories as well as how the 2019 year was a bounce back season not just for the Bruins football program, but for two brothers that will be linked together long after the final whistle blows to end their playing careers.
And that’s why both Chase Elmore and Gavin George are our The Sporting Times Regional Co-Offensive Football Players of the Year.
