Red Devils' co-captains are best mates

It wasn’t a difficult decision for the players of Jeffersonville’s boys’ varsity soccer team when it came to voting for a captain this year.
In fact, they knew without hesitation that they were going to choose not one, but two.
Who better, they thought, to spearhead the regional champion’s quest for more honors this fall than two near lifelong friends in the shape of seniors Cauldon Feldhaus and Acy Huffman?
Red Devils’ coach Carson Webb said that the co-captains, who were both named in The Evening News and Tribune’s 2010 Kick It Team of the Season, are “great players and great leaders” on and off the field.
“Their friendship absolutely affects this team in a positive manner,” he said. “They exemplify a great work ethic and really help groom the newcomers to life and soccer at Jeff High.”
The boys first met in kindergarten at Thomas Jefferson Elementary and quickly became best buddies, attending each other’s birthdays and partaking in regular sleepovers at weekends before moving on to River Valley Middle School.
Outside of school, they played with Clark County Soccer Association and later joined Southern Indiana United. If one went to a soccer camp, the other one followed.
Huffman said that he and Feldhaus had an “immediate bond” the moment they met each other.
“We share the same passion for soccer and have the same competitive edge,” he said. “I would even compare it to a brotherly bond, and it definitely shows on the field.”
Feldhaus played basketball for while, while Huffman swam, but soccer continued to be their number one sporting interest.
“Acy and Cauldon always knew they would play soccer at Jeff High,” said Huffman’s mom Sherry. “They talked about it for years.”
They tried playing in various positions, but as nature took its course and their talent developed, Huffman went on the back line and began directing the defense as sweeper, while Feldhaus manned the goal.
“I think because they are so like brothers, it fosters the great communication on and off of the field,” said Sherry, who can be found regularly on the sidelines cheering with Cauldon’s mother, Paula. (The parents, incidentally, have also become great friends.)
“They are both very good at leading their team which I'm sure is the reason they were unanimously voted captains by their teammates.”
Feldhaus said their friendship makes it really easy to talk to each other on the field.
“We played on SIU for a number of years, so by the time we went to Jeff High's team, we already knew how each other played, and what each other could and could not do on the field."
The boys are now members of different travel clubs, with Huffman at Columbus Express and Feldhaus at United 1996’s Midwest Regional League team, so the next couple of months could be the last they’ll play together on the pitch, for club or school.
Not that you would immediately be aware that the duo are so close off the field when you see them on it.
“I don't know if people can tell that Cauldon is my best friend from the sidelines while we are on the pitch,” joked Huffman. “We are comfortable enough to be critical of each other and use the other's comments as motivation.
“But I do know one thing: It's really hard to score on us when we are out there together."
Feldhaus agreed.
“We can be forceful with each other giving directions, shouting orders and such, but we realize that we're not angry with each other -- it's for the team," he said.
“It's the kind of friendship like, 'We're in this together -- I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine'.”