This time last year, Randy Flint and Jayden McCaster were in the same boat – practicing for the Class 6 state championship. But only one walked away a winner by the end of the week.
“Lost to him last year, now he’s on our team, so it would be cool to win with him since he beat us,” said senior WR/DB Flint.
“It’s great for me being able to continue my success since I haven’t lost since about a year,” said senior RB McCaster. “Just bringing the winning tradition here being able to end it on a good note.”
McCaster transferred from DeSmet to Nixa. Racking up 2035 rushing yards and 36 touchdowns in one year as an Eagle.
“Jayden’s favorite touchdown celebration, he gets to the endzone, gets the ball like this and he brings it out here like this,” Flint said as he brought his arms to his chest and then opens them to the sky. “That’s what he does. That’s his favorite one.”
McCaster handles the rushing attack while Flint makes the big catches at wide receive and is a lock down defensive back. He leads Nixa with eight interceptions this season.
“Randy is probably one of the most changed guys on this team,” said Nixa head football coach John Perry. “I can remember having to try to run him down as a 9th grader because he was contemplating not playing, he was just going to play basketball. But you know, he’s turned himself into is a fantastic leader and one of the best football players in the state.”
They’ve gone from playing head to head to being the skills players that bounce off one another.
“If you’re going to put them all in the box to try to tackle Jaden, then you’ve got to, you know, leave Randy single covered and that’s hard to do because he’s so athletic,” Perry said. “If you’re going to, you know, spend two on him, then you’re a little bit lighter in the box. So they obviously help each other out tremendously, probably more so than they even understand.”
And that brotherhood won’t end just as Eagles. After high school, The boys are headed 312 miles to Southern Illinois to continue their football careers.
“I’m just really blessed to be able to play at that level,” Flint said. “I’m excited to see what I can do and see if I can prove myself.”
“I think it’s kind of great just having someone that I do know being there as well,” McCaster said. “I just hope that we can bring the winning tradition to Carbondale. But, I’m also very blessed to be able to continue playing football as well.”
College football is around the corner, but the state championship is even closer. Together they get a chance to walk away with gold.
THE DUO PUT TO THE TEST – HOW WELL DO THEY KNOW ONE ANOTHER?
