The story has been told and retold since it all went down last August, the season opener against Adams Central.
Calder Hefty, battling illness for most of the week leading up to the game, scored on a scramble to give Garrett a 13-7 lead. Between the touchdown and the two-point try, the senior Railroader vomited right between the hashes.
Then-Garrett coach Chris DePew picks the story up from there.
“With only a few seconds left (in the half), we sent him early to the locker room to start recovering,” DePew said. “But we recovered a fumble on the kickoff. Luckily, they were having trouble unlocking the locker room doors, so he heard the crowd road.
I was trying to figure out what to call on offense with a backup QB who had just fumbled the snap on the two-point conversion, but then I see Calder sprinting back to the field for another play of offense. We called our best “shot” play and he ran it to perfection for another touchdown.
One violent regurgitation. Two touchdowns. Seven seconds.
It was arguably the most memorable play by Hefty in a season full of them, helping him earn Outside the Huddle 2024 Prep Football Player of the Year honors.
“I had a cold that week and was running a fever the night before,” said Hefty. “It was obviously a huge game for us to start the season, and next thing I knew I got that watery feeling in your mouth when you know you are going to puke.
“I was trying to get myself to stop, but couldn’t get it together and had to go to locker room.”
Luckily, Hefty was able to play for the rest of the game, although he did deal with some cramping up in the third quarter.
Not like he wouldn’t have played through the ailments anyways.
“There’s just no BS or drama from him,” DePew said. “He’s not a complicated person at all, but a simple creatre who loves football.
“I’ve joked for awhile that if you can’t help him win a football game, he doesn’t have much use for you, and I believe it’s mostly true.”
Hefty was in the right place at the right time, not just on the field week after week for the Railroaders, but the entire season in general. He grew up remembering what it felt like as a young kid watching Garrett win 12 games and advance to the semistate, how the entire community rallied around the high school team like something from the movies.
He wanted to be a part of that. And he told his classmates for years that they could be the group that made it happen again.
“From being one of the eldest children in my family, being in a leadership role came naturally,” Hefty said. “Seeing the impact around town in 2016, you see that and you want to do anything you can to get back there.”
There may have been no one else in the area that made more impactful plays for his team this past fall than Hefty. As a quarterback, he threw for over 1,000 yards and 16 touchdowns. He rushed for 1,138 yards and 20 more scores. He also amassed 81 tackles, four tackles for loss, three interceptions and a pair of forced fumbles as a defensive back.
Perhaps his biggest play defensively came against Bishop Luers in semistate, when he returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown to put the Railroaders ahead.
It did not matter the situation or the position in which they thrust Hefty in, he was always ready to make a play. It sounds so simple, but he is a football player, through and through.
“I can’t imagine him playing on one side of the ball, he would hate that,” said DePew. “We held him back in some games after developing a lead, but when we let him loose, he could make any play on the field.”
Confidence is everything, and Hefty had plenty of it this past season. It wasn’t arrogance, but more the knowing that he had the skills necessary to power Garrett to success, and he had around him a cast of like-minded individuals who were full of talent as well. Guys like Camren Ruble, Parker Skelly and Aiden Hunt were made better by playing with Hefty, but they also made him more successful.
It was a perfect elixir, with the Railroaders setting a school record with 13 victories to go with NECC Big Division, sectional and regional championships.
But at the forefront was Hefty, who for years has pointed to 2024 as being THE season that him and his class could take Garrett to great heights.
“He played quarterback and safety as his positions, but his skill set and, more importantly, his mindset made him great,” DePew said. “He just wants to win and doesn’t care how it happens.
In a talent-laden senior class, Hefty was the catalyst.
“Leadership, toughness and intelligence,” said DePew when asked about Hefty’s greatest attributes. “Calder was a throwback as a leader, demanding physicality and commitment from his teammates.
“He took some hits, but was still almost always the one dishing it out on both sides of the ball.”
That intensity, focus and leadership made Hefty an easy choice for our yearly award honoring the best player in northeast Indiana.
“To be honest, outside of getting to the state finals, I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” said Hefty about his senior season. I always said it since middle school that our class was going to be the class to get Garrett back.”
And perhaps along the way, laid the seed for others to come after him.
Be the first to comment