Watching Washington Hatchet senior center Seth Coy walk across the south end of the floor during a junior varsity game at the Hatchet House is akin to glimpsing a presidential candidate working the rope line at a campaign event.

The 6-11, 240 lb. Coy emerges from the locker room, greets some veteran Hatchet fans lucky enough to squire floor seats, shakes hands with school administrators and others seated around the playing floor area, stops to talk to several young fans who clamor for his attention across the railing from the upper seating area, then moves over to chat with the folks in the Hatchet cheer block. Coy, it seems, knows just about everyone in the gym.

Though Coy’s longtime teammate and classmate, 7-0 senior forward Tyler Zeller, is the favorite to win Mr. Basketball after this season, even Zeller would likely be an underdog to Coy if a straw poll for most popular player were taken among the Old Gold and Black faithful of Hatchet Nation.

Perhaps it’s Coy’s affable personality, the big grin he seems to flash at the drop of a hat, or the classy way he conducts himself on the court, such as when he passed up an easy but unnecessary slam dunk in the waning seconds of a 63-50 win at Evansville Mater Dei on Jan. 4 that make him a fan favorite. Whatever the case, the Hatchet House is Seth’s House when he’s on the hardwood.

“He’s a great kid with a great sense of humor,” said Washington coach Gene Miiller. “He’s a very popular kid in the school population, not only with the kids but with the faculty as well.”

An unassuming young man, Coy admits to being surprised as to the crowd’s reaction to his play, such as the roar from the Hatchet cheer block following his dunk in a 67-22 win over Loogootee on Dec. 20 at the Hatchet House or the reaction from the home crowd when he headed to the bench for the final time following last Saturday’s 75-49 victory over Pike Central. Coy’s line that game consisted of 11 points, eight rebounds, and six blocked shots.

“I never realized how many little kids looked up to me and how many fans I had out there. Against Loogootee when I got the dunk, it was just . . . this house came alive,” said Coy after practice on Tuesday. “And after the Pike Central game when I got the standing ovation, that was just amazing.”

Coy has provided plenty of big moments for the seventh-ranked and 11-2 Hatchets this season, averaging 12.5 ppg and 8.92 rpg through 13 contests in his first season as a varsity starter. Coy is shooting 64 percent from the field, and has also recorded 26 assists and 16 blocked shots. Combined, Coy and Zeller have been an unstoppable force for the Hatchets, combining to average 44.4 ppg, 18.7 rpg, 4.4 apg, and 3.1 blocks per outing for a Washington team that is beating opponents by an average of 24 ppg in its 11 wins.

“We’re playing together as a team. That’s one thing that we can do that we couldn’t do last year. We can play together as a team and have fun and still be able to beat other teams that can compete with us and blow them out by 20 points,” said Coy.

“Playing with Tyler is fun because he’s a big role model for all the little kids.”

In his third year at the helm of the Hatchet program, Miiller has watched Coy improve tremendously and blossom into a player garnering attention from several collegiate programs.

“I think he’s made a lot of progress in the last three years. The big change is his ability to run the floor has really improved,” said Miiller. “The other difference is his ability to move his feet on the defensive end of the floor. He is just so much better defensively today than he was even at the beginning of the season, which was better than he was last season.

“He’s really progressed defensively, he’s really progressed on the boards in his ability to go get the rebounds and not just get the ones that come down to him,” added Miiller. “He’s moving his feet, he’s helping out on defense. His understanding of the game has improved a lot.”

Steve Zeller, Tyler’s father and a coach to his son and Seth when they were just beginning to play basketball in grade school and junior high, says Coy has “come a long ways” from being a 6-0 fifth grader who could do little more than catch the ball and shoot it.

In eighth grade, Steve Zeller says Coy was more of a dominant player than his son, and playing against Coy throughout their careers has benefited Tyler.

“He’s helped make Tyler better over the years,” said Steve Zeller. “They would battle and fight in practice, but always be the best of friends after practice.”

Coy has played through pain over the years — particularly in junior high, when he grew 5 inches the summer after his seventh grade year — due to a growth disease in which his bones grew faster than his joints. But Coy is quick to point out he is not afflicted with Marfan’s Syndrome, a serious condition which sometimes plagues extremely tall people. The pain has subsided now that Coy is nearly finished growing.

Coy’s play hasn’t gone unnoticed by potential future coaches. Several schools, including Vincennes University, the University of Indianapolis, and the University of Southern Indiana, have shown serious interest in having Coy continue his career in their respective uniforms. Coy intends to major in elementary education or another field involving work with children.

Coy says he plans on waiting until after the season to decide what college will get his talents next year. But regardless what school’s jersey he’s wearing next season, it’s likely he’ll be the most popular player in that arena as well.