KEELAN BERRY

DEWAR HIGH SCHOOL

A move in ninth grade has made a big difference in the football life of Dewar junior Keelan Berry who plays wide receiver and safety for the Dragons.

“Keelan is one of our hardest working guys,” said his coach Josh Been. “He had a great summer gaining 15-20 pounds and getting faster. He started about half the games last year and finished strong.”

In his early years growing up in Weleetka, Berry bounced between football and baseball, playing both when he was young and then just baseball from second to sixth grade.

“Finally in seventh grade I talked my dad into letting me play football again and I really liked it. I had two uncles that were standouts at Weleetka, and I learned a lot from them.”

But things weren’t going so great for Keelan in Weleetka and so his mom convinced him to move to Dewar to live with her in the fall of his freshman year and everything changed.

“I moved to Dewar to get a fresh start and got there at the end of the football season. I played baseball in the spring but didn’t feelthat was really my sport, so I went back to football last year and coach Been has really pushed me and I’ve gotten a lot better. He and the rest of the coaches have taught me a lot about not only football but also a lot of life lessons.”

Following football last year Keelan made another important decision.

“I was considering playing baseball again but wandered into the weight room one day to see what they were up to and saw guys doing power lifting and I really got into that. It was a lot of fun and that also helped me get a lot stronger for football. I placed fifth in powerlifting at state at 157 pounds.

So as a two-way player, on which side of the ball does Keelan like to play best?

“I really like defense best where I can go downhill and hit someone or picking off a pass really gets my adrenaline going.”