The worry that enters into a Head Coach and players minds when a team opens their season with an extended undefeated run 🏃♂️ is how will the team respond when they taste defeat for the first time ?
Back on January 29th, Carroll County hosted Glenvar in game sixteen and entered the night at 15-0. The Highlanders left town that night with a 63-60 victory, ending the perfect season and knocking the Cavaliers out of first place at the same time.
Two nights later the team hosted James River on Hall of Fame night. The team responded by overwhelming the Knights right out of the gate. All five starters rotated baskets during a 10-0 run that was part of a larger stretch twice that size in route to building a 40 point lead.
James River kept playing until the end and cut the lead to the final score of 61-40. But that took place against a team that currently sits in last place and might not win a District game this season. Four days later Floyd County came to The Hill with a chance to pull even with the Cavaliers, so we could see 👀 just how much bounce back CCHS was capable of against a team playing with their regular season on the line.
Carroll County High School played a game for the ages against the Buffaloes and they did so as a TEAM, a complete one, from start to finish. Brayden Smoot led a defensive attack that made life uncomfortable for FCHS across the 32 minutes.
Cody Reece shook off the effects of missing time with the Flu to score 18 points and battle two Big Men every minute he was on the floor.
Landon Puckett and Trace Reavis provided quality minutes behind Reece and they were a vital part of fending off a brief second half charge. Charging Buffaloes were scary back in the Old West but Tuesday night 🌙 they just hit a brick wall.
Bryce Smoot tallied a ” quiet” 30 points as he simply wore down the players trying hard to guard 💂♂️ him. Folks were caught off guard themselves when the number 30 showed up in the box 📦 score.
Ethan Richardson finished with 16 points and it stuck out that 9 of them took place inside of a 60 second window of the third quarter when the Senior made three consecutive 3-pointers from the corner.
It seems that there was one other player that had something to do with the outcome. Junior Isaiah Easter was playing with a level of confidence that comes from spending your basketball life as a guard and then hitting a growth spurt that takes you from playing the point to playing the #4 spot.
Easter quietly, if that’s possible, worked his way to a Triple- Double as the Junior added 15 rebounds and 12 assists to his 15 points. Easter also stole the ball enough that he could have ended up on the Cana Police blotter.
The team is getting ready to have another emotional night here as the Program honors 🎖 the Senior Class of six on Senior Night. The Cavaliers are set to welcome Patrick County to town and the Junior Varsity team gets everything underway at 5:30. The celebration will include the Cheerleaders and the Swim 🏊♂️ team members and will take place in between games.
The one remaining thing left for the team to accomplish is for Athletic Director Kevin DeHaven to have to open up the top set of bleachers to hold the crowd.
To recap, the Varsity is 17-1 and playing at a pretty high level. The Junior Varsity is enjoying a great year as well. We will be saying Thank You 🙏 to Senior Class members from a multitude of programs. We will have song 🎵 and dance 💃 and Pizza 🍕 Inn Pizza.
Consider yourself officially invited to the Party 🥳 on The Hill, starting at 5:30 because you don’t want to miss out on Jason Stockner and Ryan Largen coach up our Future !
