SHS starting over

After losing four starters and six seniors from last year’s team, the Sneads Pirates enter the 2009-2010 season with modest expectations.

However, Sneads coach Kelvin Johnson said that, despite his team’s youth and inexperience, he likes what he has seen thus far.

“I’m kind of optimistic about the season,” the coach said. “We’ve got some good, talented kids out there, but most of them don’t have a lot of varsity
experience. They’re very talented, but you just don’t know what they’ll be until we play some real games and see how we do.”

The Pirates lost the heart of last year’s team in Sherrick Williams, Justin Neel, Alan Patterson and Kendal Clayton. Terrance Green is the only returning starter.

Jamar White, Josh Rogers, Jeff Davis, John Whittington and Terrance Pittman all return with playing experience.

“We lost all our leadership from last year,” Johnson said. “But that leaves room for kids to step up and take their place. I just don’t know until we play some games who will step up and get it done.”

Johnson said the team would need big seasons from Rogers, Whittington and Green, as well as a positive impact from some of the young players moving up from junior varsity.

Sophomores Will Holmes and Jeff Bell move into varsity roles on the wing. Junior point guard Darryll Johnson is also stepping up after leading last year’s JV team.

It won’t be a big team, but Johnson said the Pirates will need to consistently bring it on the defensive end to win games this season.

“We don’t have any size whatsoever,” the coach said. “The one thing we have to rely on is playing defense for the entire game, just so we can stay in the game.

“I know it will be a rebuilding season this year, so we’ll have to play hard on defense to stay in the game. We won’t be able to score a ton of points.”

While acknowledging that this is a rebuilding year, Johnson said he wouldn’t be surprised if this year’s team became tougher later in the season.

“By the end of the year, we may surprise some people,” he said. “We’ve got some athletic kids, and I think we’ll be able to compete. But we have to work at it, and we have to play some defense like we’ve never played before.

“Our time is next year, but you can’t wait that long. We have to work on this year.”

Green, Pittman, White, Rogers and Whittington all returned late last week from the football team. Johnson said the team will need all of them to contribute just as much production on the court.

“Those are the guys who will have to play a lot of minutes for us,” the coach said. “They’re all competitors. They’re our main athletes here. Some of them play three sports. They want to win and I’ve got confidence that they’ll work hard.

“It’s a good group of kids we’ve got, a fun group to be around. It should be a fun season.”

Sneads’ district will be changed this year as well, with Bozeman, Cottondale, Blountstown, Graceville, South Walton, Holmes County and Vernon all in the Pirates’ league.

The Pirates open the regular season on the road Tuesday with a district contest against Bozeman.

“It’s a pretty big district,” Johnson said. “That should be very interesting throughout the year with the seeding for the tournament. All of the games have got some added meaning now with so many teams in it.”