Justin Berkey On to the Next Level

Campbell County High School's Justin Berkey signed his National Letter of Intent on Monday night to play football at Morningside College, which is an NAIA school in Sioux City, IA.

Berkey will have a chance to start as a freshmen for the Mustangs, who have been to the NAIA playoffs for 9 consecutive years and are  coming off their first appearance in the national title game.

After suffering an injury in his sophomore and junior years for the Camels, Berkey came back with a vengeance his senior year as he helped lead Gillette to the 4A state title game where they ultimately fell to Natrona County.

After the conclusion of the 2012 football season not only was Berkey selected to represent the North in the 40th annual Shrine Bowl, which will be played on June 8th at Natrona County High School Stadium, but he was also named East Conference lineman of the year for his efforts on both sides of the ball. He was also named to the all-conference first team as an offensive and defensive lineman and he was named to the 4A all-state team at both positions as well.

As a senior for Gillette Berkey racked up 94.5 defensive points, which was 2nd most on the Camels for lineman behind Zach Tolzien. Berkey recorded 61.5 total tackles, including 17 solo and 4.5 for loss. He also had 1 pass break up an 1 fumble recovery.

Besides playing football for the national runner-up Mustangs, Berkey plans on studying Physical Therapy at Morningside with the intention of helping out athletes who will go through the same struggles with injuries he had during the middle of his prep career.