MOUNT VERNON — Area first-year coaches have had quite a successful debut in the first few weeks of the season. With 12 wins between seven new boys and girls basketball coaches, the stage is set for successful seasons.
The Clear Fork and Highland girls basketball teams, as well as the Northridge and Johnstown boys basketball squads, are undefeated heading into this weekend.
The Highland Scots have jumped out to a 3-0 mark, including two Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference wins. First-year coach Galen Chapman has his squad playing well.
“I didn’t have a schedule for us,” said Chapman. “I’m really pleased with our effort. They’ve been working hard. They may be ahead of schedule in that sense. They are responding well, and it is always nice when you are winning. Things are going OK, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. It is a long season. I’ve been trying to keep everything in perspective.”
Perhaps the most impressive win thus far is a 45-43 overtime road win over North Union last week. It tested the Scots’ resolve and showed Chapman a thing or two about his team.
“I think, hopefully, this is something they can build on,” Chapman said. “That was kind of a mountain for us. ... Our main thing, and still now, is to keep playing defense and work hard, especially when we start to struggle on the offensive end. It kind of buys a little time and gets us through the slow spells. That’s what I’ve been telling them.”
While it would be easy to look ahead, Chapman has been trying to keep his team focused on the next challenge at hand.
“Right now, first things first. We are playing one game at a time,” Chapman said. “That’s been our motto throughout the first three. We are trying to keep our focus on doing the simple things, the fundamentals — playing good defense, taking care of the ball, minimize our turnovers. We’ve been working on those things. We’ve actually been struggling at the free-throw line, so we’ve been shooting a lot of free throws. We are trying to stick with the basics and see what happens.”
The Scots play two this weekend, beginning with a road trip tonight to River Valley. Then, on Saturday, Highland heads to play Gilead Christian, the school from which Chapman came.
“It is going to be different, no doubt about it,” said Chapman of Gilead Christian. “It was sort of the same way when I played Highland at Gilead Christian. I know a lot of people on both sides of the court. It is going to be different. I really don’t know what to expect to tell you the truth.”
Clear Fork, 2-0 under new coach Les Hauenstein, will try to keep its winning start going with a pair of home Ohio Cardinal Conference contests. Tonight, the Colts host Wooster, and on Saturday, Mansfield Madison comes to Bellville.
In Mid-Buckeye Conference action tonight, Centerburg (2-2, 1-1) is at East Knox (0-3, 0-2), Loudonville (2-1, 2-0) is at Utica (2-2, 1-1), Northridge (0-3, 0-2) visits Johnstown (2-1, 2-0) and Danville (3-1, 1-1) is at Fredericktown (1-2, 1-1). On Saturday, East Knox is at Northridge, Fredericktown goes on the road to play Loudonville, Centerburg visits Utica and Johnstown is at Danville.
Mount Vernon (1-2, 1-1 Ohio Capital Conference) plays its first home contest of the season on Friday, hosting Delaware Hayes in Capital Division action.
Northridge (2-0, 1-0 MBC) boys basketball coach John Wheeler has a lot to be happy about. His team has managed to pick up two wins in less than a week, but that’s not the main reason for his excitement.
“We are starting to learn about ourselves and our team,” said Wheeler. “Guys are learning a whole lot about each other and because of that, we are improving. We are really going after it in practice, and that shows in our games. During the first couple of games, you could tell that our guys are learning. Their knowledge of my coaching style during the game is better. They know what I expect.”
Being a first-year coach, Wheeler wasn’t sure how good his team would be early in the season. But after beating Gilead Christian and Danville convincingly, he has a better idea.
“I knew our guys would go out and play hard,” said Wheeler. “There are some aspects of the game that we are struggling with. We are still not doing everything correct, but we are competitive. I wouldn’t say either game was easy because, in both games, we had to work for it. We are trying to develop our guys by learning and adjusting.”
Northridge has just one game this weekend. The Vikings host winless Fredericktown (0-2, 0-1 MBC) on Friday night in another MBC battle.
“We expect a very fundamental team, a team that does not make a lot of mistakes,” Wheeler said of Fredericktown. “They are going to take care of the ball offensively, and be very sound defensively. I know that they lost to Highland, and I know they lost a tough one (Tuesday) night to Centerburg, so I am sure they will be hungry and ready to play. We need to play good basketball. We continue to pick up the intensity in practice and, if we continue to learn and improve every day, we will have continued success.”
Also Friday night, undefeated Highland (2-0, 1-0 MOAC) plays at Buckeye Valley; Loudonville (2-0, 1-0 MBC) hosts Danville (0-1, 0-1 MBC); Johnstown (1-0, 1-0 MBC) is at Centerburg (2-0, 1-0 MBC); and Clear Fork (1-0) opens Ohio Cardinal Conference play at Mansfield Senior.
Two 1-1 teams will square off in Utica as well. It will be a battle of first-year coaches as the East Knox Bulldogs (0-1 MBC), under Don McDaniel, face the Redskins (0-1 MBC), coached by Eric Sheck.
For the Bulldogs, getting a season-opening win over Mansfield Temple Christian last Friday really gave a younger team some needed momentum. East Knox opened league play on Tuesday, and despite a strong second half, fell to Loudonville.
“I think it helped us a lot mentally to get that first win and get the monkey off our back,” said McDaniel. “We play in a very tough league, and every night, it is going to be a very tough game.
“We proved to ourselves (Tuesday) night that we can play with anybody. Loudonville is a very, very good basketball team. They shoot the ball very well and are fundamentally sound. They took us apart in the first half; we weren’t ready and that was my fault. We did a really great job in the second half. We actually beat them, 32-20. There are positives which came out of it.”
McDaniel believes his team will be better on Friday than they were on Tuesday. The reason for that belief is how the team is buying into his program.
“I think the kids are buying in really well,” McDaniel said. “We talk a lot about playing hard, playing smart and playing together. They are doing those things. Together is coming a little more and more each day. They are buying into what we want to get accomplished. The only question is how long is it going to take for us to actually put it all together.”
Utica poses a large challenge for the Bulldogs, who will have to find a way to stop Jared Dassylva. On the other hand, the Redskins will have to contend with Luke Branstool.
“I don’t know what to expect out of Utica. I have not seen tape on any of their games yet,” said McDaniel. “Utica is a very good basketball team. They will be very well coached and do the little things right. They are always athletic. Like I said earlier, there are no easy games in this league. We’re going down there expecting a dog fight.”
In Ohio Capital Conference play, Mount Vernon (1-1, 0-1 OCC) travels to Delaware on Friday to face an old rival in the Pacers.
All Thursday and Friday games begin with junior varsity at 6 p.m. Saturday’s games begin at 1 p.m.
