Football is finally back in the air from the NFL to our very own Ben Davis Giants. Last Saturday, the Giants took to the field in front of around 150 fans for the annual purple and white game. The Giants looked absolutely fantastic from their offensive snaps to their defensive backs vision. Here are some things you’ll want to pay close attention to for the upcoming new season of Ben Davis High School football:

1. New Schedule– Though you won’t see many new schools on the schedule, the Giants schedule was massively flipped around. Cathedral starts the season off as it has for the past three years, but teams such as Carmel, who has ended the regular season for some time now, will not end the season. Instead the North Central Panthers will get the last round against the Ben Davis Giants.

2. Kyle Castner– The Division I recruit quarterback returns for the third and final season as the starter for the Giants offensive attack. Castner, who has been dazzling fans for several years, currently sits third on the all-time school passing yards list with 3,475 yards sitting just behind Chris Ings (3,691) and James Bank (5,074). Kyle Castner also holds several game records, including passing attempts (37), passing completions (26), and passing yardage (271). The quarterback also holds the season completion percentage of 64.6 percent and the passing attempts with 247.

3. Defense– The final thing is the defense, who lost sack master Albert Williams (23.5 sacks). This also stood second all-time in the Ben Davis record books. The Giants will also be without star cornerback Tony Allen, who took his talents to St. Francis.  Last year, the Giants defensive unit held the team together while the offense struggled at times.  That allowed BD to stay in nearly every game.

One way or another, it appears watching the Giants will be more than worth the extra dollar you’ll pay this year at the gate each regular season game (all MIC schools increased ticket sales to $5 this summer).

This could be a very special year.

Editor’s note: Levonne Durden is a sports reporter from WBDG (90.9 FM). His commentary on sports will appear weekly on BDSPotlight.com.