Eagles head into tough competition

The bounce of the ball and the squeak of the floor as a shoe hits the polished wood. Basketballs fly across the gym, gliding into the hoop sounding a swooshing resonance. Players make final preparations before the tip-off that begins the game.

The campus boy’s varsity basketball team is playing in a tournament called the Holiday Varsity Boys Basketball Tournament hosted by Hoover High, Dec. 14-17. The Eagles will be opening the tournament against Clovis High.

The majority of the schools entered into this tournament range from Divisions I-III. FC is a DV team. Varsity head coac, Jonathan Penberthy strategically placed his team to compete against higher level of play to prepare them for their upcoming season.

“We plan to compete and show our weaknesses now so we can improve on them for the rest of the year,” Penberthy said. “We have played a tough schedule this year, and this makes it tougher. When preparing for games like this you just go into it and hope to play the best you can.”

Brother of a varsity player, Hayden Trevino, ‘22, looks forward to watching his older brother play in the tournament. Participating in basketball for the past 3 years, Trevino plans to continue to play the sport until his sophomore year in high school. Trevino plans to break off from the sport in order to devote his full attention to academics.

“I want to watch my brother who plays on the team, and I also want to go to learn more about the sport and how to improve my own basketball skills,” Trevino said. “From what I have seen from their practices, they need to focus and really work hard in order to have a shot at the championship this year. If they can work together during the upcoming tournament, I think they will do really well.”

Playing with the team last year, Damien Boyce, ‘17, sees that the team is more experienced this season. Boyce hopes play good defense during the tournament.

“I think this tournament is going to go really good and we are going to play really well,” Boyce said. “I think I will have a good game by rebounding well and by playing good defense. The intensity at practice has been very hard. We have been going over plays every day and it should be a good tournament.”

Nick LeBlanc, ‘17, hopes to break his choppy shooting streak in the upcoming tournament. LeBlanc believes that the team will need to play solid defense and rebound well in order to be successful against the elevated competition.

“I am hoping we are going to come out and play well,” LeBlanc said. “We will face higher division teams, so they will be a lot more aggressive, but I think we can do well. I hope that I will do well. I have been on a little bit of a rough streak shooting, so I am hoping I can change that and shoot better. We have already played some teams down in L.A., and that helped us bond together. In order to win, rebounds will be key. Being physical and crashing the boards will be the key to success in these upcoming games”

The Eagles will be playing in the tournament from Dec.14-17. Time are still to be determined. For updated scores and game times check in with The Feather’s twitter account.

To read another basketball article check out, Varsity boys basketball find success, bond at first tournament

This writer can be reached via email: Samuel Cross