This season is senior Kingston Connelly’s one and only real chance to leave his mark for Crown Point football.
But Connelly didn’t wait for a game to do that, as coach Craig Buzea explained.
“We have a senior retreat at my house at the end of the summer,” Buzea said. “We make all the seniors stand up. We call them ‘senior speeches,’ but they can talk about anything they want. Most of them talk about their goals and things like that, and Kingston was the last guy to go.
“So we had 15 coaches, 35 seniors, 50 guys sitting around a campfire for probably three hours, and he’s the last guy to go, and he stands up and he goes, ‘I’m not going to talk about myself. I’m going to talk about every one of you and what you mean to me.’ And he went around the circle and talked about every person.”
Connelly spoke for nearly 40 minutes.
“He had a personal story about every kid and coach there,” Buzea said. “I told him at the end, I go, ‘Kingston, that was the longest senior speech we’ve ever had, but that could have been one of the best.’
“It was just so touching to see a kid like that thank his teammates and his coaches and what they meant to him, going down the line, every person, and talking about an experience that he had with them — just tremendous. That just tells you the type of kid he is.”
Connelly said he tried to keep it upbeat and moving.
“I was like, ‘I want to bring the energy up, so I’m going to say something nice or funny about everyone there,’” he said. “It took a little while, but I think it got some good laughs, and it was a good time.
“I enjoyed it. As soon as coach Buz said we had to give a speech, the idea kind of clicked in my head. I thought it would be a great idea, so I’m glad that people enjoyed it.”
Crown Point senior wide receiver Ethan Ziolkowski certainly did.
“I wasn’t expecting that, but it was insane,” Ziolkowski said. “Saying something nice about every single person — and funny — it was great. For me, he just brought up our past, how we came up together. It was very heartwarming. It was awesome for him to do that.”
Connelly has had an awesome start to the season as the Bulldogs (2-0) carry a 38-game regular-season winning streak into a Duneland Athletic Conference showdown at Merrillville on Friday. The 5-foot-9, 160-pound wide receiver had a team-high five catches for 50 yards in the opener against Lowell and added two carries for 8 yards against Indianapolis Pike last week.
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“Kingston is one of those guys we’ve had an eye on since his freshman year, and he really hasn’t had the opportunity to shine like he probably should have,” Buzea said. “But we saw him on the JV level, and he was really a dominating player on the JV level at the wide receiver spot for the last couple of years.
“So we had to keep our fingers crossed that he would continue to do what he’s been doing on the JV level, and we have not been disappointed. He’s really done a great job for us.”
Indeed, Connelly flourished on the freshman and JV teams.
“I’ve had 10 touchdowns each of my years,” he said. “I had 10 touchdowns on the freshman team and 10 touchdowns sophomore year on JV and 10 touchdowns junior year on JV,” he said. “So I’ve stayed consistent. I want to do that on the varsity level, too, but I haven’t gotten to get to the end zone yet. I’m looking forward to my first time doing that.”
Connelly had three catches for 26 yards at the varsity level last year, totals he eclipsed in the first game this season.
“I think it just took confidence,” he said. “Last year, I had the opportunity, and I don’t think I was confident in myself enough. I just had to build my body and my mind to the point where I’m unfazed all the time. I have to trust myself so that the coaches can trust me.
“Keeping our undefeated streak is important as a team, and I just want to make my impact since I haven’t necessarily done that throughout the last four years. I just want to be a big part of it this year.”
Connelly is part of Crown Point’s revamped receiving corps that also includes Ziolkowski and sophomore RJ Ford.
“I’ve known Kingston since kindergarten, and we’ve basically played football our whole lives together,” Ziolkowski said. “He’s 100%. Me and him, we go way back, and he’s a great leader. I feel like when the season started, all three of us — me, Kingston and RJ — are new, and we needed a guy to lead us, and it was Kingston.
“He does everything. He can run routes. He can catch the ball. He can block. He’s just like that security blanket. He’s been a dog since day one, and I just trust him.”
Connelly played running back in middle school before he shifted to wide receiver.
“I was undersized, so it made more sense,” he said. “I could catch the ball, so it made more sense to go out wide. But even on Friday nights, I’m still getting a couple of handoffs.
“Getting those handoffs, it reminded me of being a little seventh grader back in middle school. It was a little nostalgia because I’ve been getting tackled by safeties and corners, not D-linemen and linebackers.”
He added with a laugh, “That’s a little bit of a different hit on Friday nights.”
Not that Connelly is complaining. After waiting his turn, he’s eager to have the ball in his hands.
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“I’m excited,” he said. “I like getting the football. It’s the most fun part about the game, actually getting the ball. Whenever I get the opportunity, I like to seize it.
“There’s good camaraderie on the team. It’s easy to trust my teammates. So I feel good being a part of the team, and I think I can play a good role, a big role, and be helpful in every aspect of the game.”