Senior Xavier Arnette has always ran hard no matter what he does and in his final season as a Central Hardin Bruin, he hasn’t slowed down
It was a tough way to go out of a game in his senior year, but that’s what happened when Xavier Arnette was sidelined in a game against South Warren in week four of the high school football season. When the talented running back suffered a knee injury against the Spartans, he would be lost for at least six weeks. To make matters worse, he was held to just 24-yards rushing and kept out of the end zone in a 24-3 loss to the Spartans. For much of the year, Arnette, who was considered one of the most dangerous runners in the area not less the state and although the Bruins were saddled with several new players at key positions due to a heavy graduation year, Central Hardin was 2-1 going into that game and Arnette had already gained 413-yards on 48-carries and had scored five times. He was just as valuable as a receiver coming out of the backfield or in the spread catching five passes for 51-yards. He was even credited for 13-tackles on defense. Once he came back, Arnette finished the regular season with 920-yards rushing and 13-TDs include 200-yards in his regular season finale against Woodford County and 5-TDs.
Baseball could be considered his second sport and in fact the previous season when the Bruin baseball team made another serious run towards a 5th Region title, Arnette was an intricate part of their attack hitting nearly .500 and playing centerfield, but football is the sport that he fell in love with at an early age although he does consider the skill involved in hitting a baseball might be more difficult to achieve than running through an eight man line. “Baseball might be more difficult because of that, but football has a different skill set, too.”
After a big breakout season in 2013, which was his sophomore year in which he gained 830-yards rushing and 19-touchdowns under Coach Mark Perry, Arnette was thrown for a loop when Perry chose to leave and new coach Tim Mattingly came in with a different offense. It didn’t take long for both he and senior quarterback Koree Krupinski to pick it up. “Over the summer we worked hard and got it down pretty quick. In the first couple of games we got it down, so it didn’t take long to pick it up.” Not they he didn’t feel it afterwards, because suddenly becoming the main focus of defenses meant taking plenty of punishment and it wasn’t a surprise that he took a few days after each game to physically recover. Not surprisingly, Arnette pointed to the Meade County overtime win as a key game. The Green Wave defense keyed on him most of the time, but their first win over them in what seemed like a lifetime caused him and the team to get a little emotional afterwards.
Arnette had an even better year statistically carrying 186-times for 1,177-yards and 19-TDs and the Bruins went undefeated during the regular season until losing to Meade County in the third-round of the playoffs. When asked which was tougher to accept either losing to Meade County in the playoffs or having Elizabethtown derail their state tournament hopes last season his response was “They were equally painful because whatever sport I’m playing is my favorite at the time.”
Arnette has admitted that he does enjoy cooking during his leisure time and would like to study architecture or major in psychology which is a field his father is currently in. Hopefully, in a few weeks, he will be doing something just as important as the top back for the Bruins will continue to run hard just as he has every time he carries the ball.
