Parke Heritage adopting 1-0 mentality

It can be argued that while all football coaches understand the meaning of the words duty and sacrifice, none may know them better than Parke Hertiage's Dan Rector. 

The veteran football coach not only sacrifices time with his duties as head football coach of the Wolves, he is also serves in the Indiana National Guard. 

His role with the Indiana National Guard caused him to sacrifice part of the 2024 season, following a deployment. 

The Wolves endured a 1-9 season, falling in the opening round of the Class A Sectional against Riverton Parke. 

"Last season was a difficult one for our program, and that obviously was due in large part to me, as the head coach and offensive coordinator, being deployed to Iraq before we were even half way through the season. There just isn’t a manual for how to pull that off successfully. I hate that my individual service obligation had a negative impact on the players and the other coaches, especially the seniors. But I am very proud of how hard the kids and coaches fought through that adversity. That’s due in large part to Shane Vandivier’s leadership as the interim head coach and also to last year’s seniors. There is no doubt that those challenges brought this group closer together and provided a huge motivation for us going into this year," Rector said.

The motivation carried over through an offseason that saw the Wolves get stronger and Rector expects that to carry over when the season opens Aug. 22 at Class 3A Crawfordsville. 

"Our weight room numbers have made great progress and our summer workouts have gone well. We expect to be very physical up front this year, and that really allows us to play the style of football that we want to play," Rector said. 

The Wolves will look to pick up their first winning season since 2021 and in order for that to happen, Rector is going to lean heavily on his senior class, which includes: offensive lineman/inside linebacker Tucker Conley, offensive and defensive lineman Lucas Rhoads, wide receiver/defensive back Hayden Vandivier, wide receiver/defensive back Hudson McDaniel, offensive and defensive lineman Cayden Young and running back/linebacker A.J. Montgomery. 

"Lots of great leaders with varsity experience in that group," Rector admitted. 

In addition, juniors Klayton Burgess (offensive and defensive lineman), Karter Vanderheyden (running back/defensive end), Leyton McMullen (tight end/outside linebacker), Mason Wilcox (wide receiver/quarterback/defensive back), Blake Ledcke (running back/defensive back) and Braydon Goodwin (tight end/defensive lineman) all are back with significant varsity experience and Rector expects all to make big contributions. 

Furthermore, Parke Heritage's coaches will also lean on sophomore quarterback/defensive back Sawyer Monik, sophomore wide receiver/defensive back Timmy Presley and sophomore running back/linebacker Crafton Mailcoat. 

While Rector is familiar with the fact Parke Heritage has four wins since 2021, he and the Wolves are taking a simple approach to the 2025 season. 

"I am a big believer in the “1-0 Mentality.” We are focused on getting better one play at a time, one practice at a time, and one game at a time. This will be the most physical team we have had the last few years, and that combined with the leadership and work ethic that this group has shown make me very optimistic. The strength of this team should be our ability to play with great physicality at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. If we are able to do that then we will be able to accomplish what we want to on both offense and defense this season," Rector said.