Mohigan Journal- 2-02-02
by Coach Hoffman
What a game on Friday evening at the MAC. The atmosphere was as good as it gets in this state. The "Rowdy Society" was, well... Rowdy and the gym was rockin'. Mr. Glover would sure be proud of the MHS students and their terrific support. I know our players are very appreciative of the support and they showed their appreciation by diving and crawling and doing whatever it took to get this win over one tough North Marion team. I can feel for North Marion as they have a great team but have nothing to show for it because they have played the toughest schedule in the state and have lost all close games to good teams. My bet is that they won't quit and could make things very interesting in their sectional. I would like to play them again, but we can't assume anything as Preston is coming on and UHS will play tough at the end of the season, as they aren't as bad as their record. At Preston on Wednesday we found out there is little difference between a 12-3 , 5th ranked team (MHS) and a 3-12 (Preston) team. They had several shots go in and out, or they would have won. We had to play without Geremy, who had a little wisdom taken out at the dentist's office, but he came back and sparked us on Friday evening. Chad Murray came on this week, just in time for a big win over the Huskies. We are getting small glimpses of next years' team, and hopefully we will be good again next year. The win over North should bolster our state wide rankings. Being ranked means nothing to us as far as post season, but the respect that we get in the poles is important as we contact college coaches and they contact us. They want to know about our seniors. Being ranked has and will allow our seniors to get more looks from college coaches. It may mean more people will come to our games and hopefully we can keep winning.
The poor start by the JV's in the loss to North was shocking as they have played better and better this season, but they came back and made it interesting. You don't examine someone's character in wins or when things are going well, rather when things are going poorly. We had a bad start and the guys pulled together and we found some different combinations that worked and the guys didn't quit. This team is growing up and getting tougher. Look for good things from this sophomore group. They play at Parkersburg South on Wednesday and host UHS on Friday. UHS gave us a good game, last time and played without Charles Cyphert, one of their starters. UHS will be after revenge at our gym, and we have to be ready as they can really make their whole season with a win over us. I am sure it will be a close encounter.
The 9th graders have a bear of a task this week as they host Preston on Monday, West on Tuesday and Bridgeport on Wednesday. Bridgeport is without a doubt the best 9th grade team in the area and West is the best team we play in our conference. Coach Van Voorhis will have his work cut out for him. If anyone can keep the guys going, it is him. Spencer Farley came up big with a 20 point game against UHS this last week and MHS won in overtime. That's two victories over the Hawks this season.
Drew Holt was inducted into the National Honor Society this week. Drew can not only play ball, but he is another in the growing list of outstanding student athletes in our program. He holds a 4.0 GPA and spends his extra time working on basketball. He is a fine young man and we all proud of him and his hard work.
Coach Yester makes academics the priority in many of his discussions with his players. We have players missing practice many times for academic reasons. I have been around other coaches over the years that have told the player to reschedule their academic activity, when it meant missing practice. Coach Yester is big on kids being at school on time and doing what they are supposed to. A great example will be this Wednesday, we will not arrive back from Parkersburg South until near midnight. Coach will tell the team to be in first period. They have to learn that being back in school on time and concentrating is more important than winning games. Many of the players have asked to be excused from school early on Wednesday, but we told them that they can't afford to miss class, just so we can leave early for Parkersburg, which is only a two hour trip.
We will be traveling on a Coach bus to Parkersburg South, which certainly makes the trip a lot more appealing. Our players and parents did a lot of work in the spring and summer to raise the funds for such bus trips. The boosters will feed the kids before the trip and the parents will feed the team after the game in Parkersburg.
Parkersburg South has been hot as of late. They beat Beckley a few games ago and haven't been beaten on their home court very often in recent years. Their home court advantage is about like ours was the other night. Their students get into it and create a tough atmosphere to come into and win. It would be a real "feather in our cap," I mean our "headdress" to defeat them at the Ron Oldham Athletic Center. GO MOHIGANS!