Mohigan Journal- January 6th
by Coach Hoffman
North Marion was pretty good, weren't they? I told you so. We have to play 4 good quarters to beat them. They shot better then 50% and we shot close to 33 %, and still went to overtime with them. That showed great heart and that is one thing this Varsity has an abundance of. Coach Yester kept telling the guys to keep playing hard and when a few shots drop, we'll get back in it. I thought he did and outstanding job of coaching. Ronnie looked great as he proved to be a warrior once again. He played as hard as any player has played in many years at MHS. His 24 points points were all contested and he challenged the 6'8 Vernon and 6'7 Jarmen all night. Its no surprise that he had little left for Elkins, as he played a sub par game on Saturday evening. Bobby showed his grit as he struggled in the first half of the North game and came back and scored 17 points in the second half. Not many players have the mental toughness that Bobby Prim has and that is what makes him so special. Then on Saturday evening Nick was the man as he came back and showed everyone what he is made of. He scored 20 points on 8-11 shooting and had 8 rebounds. Nick over powered the bigger Elkins players, showing his weight room work. We couldn't have won if Vido hadn't gotten his game together. He scored 13 points and broke Elkins' back several times with big plays. Justin is in a slump and as we all know every player goes through slumps. He will come out of it and lead this team to many victories. Like Coach Yester says, " the great teams have a different person pick them up each night."
What a great game Nick Patella, the Elkins point guard had. He was unconscious as he drained many long range jumpers with people in his face. Elkins really has their role players understanding what they have to do. No one else except Nucelli and Patella shoot much, they have acccepted their role. This makes them a tough team to beat. They will win several games and are always capable of an upset. For us to beat them on Saturday showed the quality of our team. An average team would've gotten beat.
Our JV team played hard against North but came away with a loss. North plays mostly juniors and a few sophomores. Our sophomores can play better, but the fight in them was great. If we could have gotten a few inside shots to drop and not had so many turnovers, the game would've been closer. North will win 18 games this year and undoubtedly be the best team in the NCAC. We will get a return game at the MAC later in the season.
At Elkins on Saturday evening, the JV's showed the team that they could be as they ran the Tigers out of the gym. I am still adjusting to this team as I have had to change my coaching style a little bit this year. As we (the JV and myself), go through the season, we will continue to grow and get better. JV ball is all about development and each player taking responsibility to improve his game. Its fun as a coach trying to figure out what works and what combination of players play best together. The only problem is that each night a different combination of players show up. We'll figure it out. A retired longtime Marion County coach expressed how impressed he was with the raw talent of this JV team. He said," There is enough talent in your sophomore class, when combined with the juniors, next year, you will once again have a state champion caliber team." Another spectator said, "Because your JV's are growing so fast their timing is off." If that is the case, we will be pretty good. We need to keep trying to improve.
The Freshman team won their game on Thursday as they went Elkins. Once again balanced scoring was the name of the game. I'm telling you, if you want to see some slick ball handling and some great shooters, you better get out and watch this team. They have athletes as well and as we all know coach V, the wily veteran coach that he is, will bring this team to the top of the pack, by the end of the season.
Coaches coach for different reasons, but on Thursday we had a visit from two former players, that expressed gratitude for the education they received while being members of the MHS basketball program. The Spiker brothers stopped in and had a few words with our teams. Tim graduated in 1990 and is now an engineer in the midwest. He played basketball at Purdue and later at Washington University in St. Louis. Zach, as many of you remember played in the early nineties, went on the play ball at Ithaca and is now an assistant coach at Winthrop University. He coached in the NCAA tournament last season and his team upset Clemson, earlier this year. These two former players are examples of what basketball can help you become. They learned work ethic and a sense for team play as well as the ability to handle set backs while playing high school basketball. Tim said "I learned more in this classroom than I learned in any other classroom that I have been in." (Speaking of course about the Clyde gym) "I wish we had this facility when I played here, he continued. The program has really improved since I was here. I am very proud of the this school and what it did for me."
Zach said the opportunity to play for MHS led him to a passion for the game and has chosen to make a career out of it. " Coach Yester and Coach Hoffman did so much for me and turned me on to the game. I wanted to stay close to the game and am very happy to be doing what I am today. He continued by telling the players," Take the work ethic you learn here and apply it to other parts of your life." Coach Yester reminisced a little by talking about the summer between Zach's junior and senior season. Zach recorded over 28,000 shots and improved enough to be one of the best point guards in the long history of Morgantown High.
The quality of the North Marion tape is not good and therefore I will not make copies for the varsity players. The Elkins tape turned out to be a good one, thanks to Mike Hedges, and will be copied and sent home. All varsity players need to send blank tapes to me as soon as possible. Speaking of Michael Hedges, we really appreciate the quality of his work. He is really working hard and is great addition to our program. He might be more valuable to us then Nick, his brother. But we'll keep Nick and see how he turns out. Karen, Nick's Mom sent cookies for the bus ride on Saturday and the players gobbled them up. The players really appreciated them. Once again we're glad to have Nick around, as his family is so valuable to us. But, we'll keep Nick and see how he works out. Now John, Nick's dad, was very helpful as he was in on the planning of the tournament over the holidays. He Has been very helpful as well. Now you see why we keep Nick around. No, just kidding, when Nick was in fifth grade, I coached him at Mountain View as I volunteered coaching a fifth and sixth grade team. Nick was a tough kid then, but has really become a player because of hard work. He is the best example we have of a self made player. He was not a star when he was little. He wasn't even a starter. He didn't start until his sophomore year. He has made himself into a great high school player who has offers to play in college. His work ethic obviously spills over into his academics, as he scored a 1360 on his S.A.T., putting him in the top 2% in the nation. There is not a school he can't get into.
Finally, I apologize for the lack of quality grammar that I use in these journals. I am trying to write what's on my mind and don't have time to do a lot of proof reading. I am writing from my heart and sometimes things get a little mixed up. As you can tell I love this basketball program and the players that play for us. If I get caught up in trying to be politically correct, my true spirit will not come out. We have a lot to be proud of at MHS. It is the best academic school in the state. We have great support from our community and obviously to make it through our program with demands we put on our players, they are a cut above the rest. To win a state championship is one of our goals, but to educate our players about life is the main objective.
GO MOHIGANS!