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National soccer scoring title belongs to Sunlake’s Pimm

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Any soccer team that played the Sunlake Seahawks this season knew that Remi Pimm was a scoring threat. The sophomore forward was by far the best scorer on his team this season.

Sunlake’s Remi Pimm led the nation in scoring this past soccer season with 64 goals. That mark also makes him the new Pasco County single-season record holder. (Photo by Michael Murillo)
Sunlake’s Remi Pimm led the nation in scoring this past soccer season with 64 goals. That mark also makes him the new Pasco County single-season record holder. (Photo by Michael Murillo)

Of course, he also was the best scorer in the district.

And the region.

And the state.

In fact, Pimm finished the year as the top scorer … in the nation. He had 64 goals and 39 assists. Pimm’s total not only was good enough for this year’s national honors, he broke the all-time record for most goals in a season by a Pasco County player of either gender.

Pimm said he takes the substance of the game seriously, but likes adding a little style as well.

“I like to create and have fun with the game, take defenders on, create scoring opportunities,” he said. “When I play I just like to have a good time. I like to do it the right way but also play with flair and good style.”

But flair and style wasn’t on everyone’s mind when he first joined the team this season. Pimm said that people would ask him if he was going to break the county record that had been recently set by another Sunlake player. Connor Gilboy — who joined the University of Florida’s football program and was red-shirted as a freshman this year after graduating from Sunlake — held the mark with 60 goals after last season.

Known for his soccer skills, Pimm said the pressure was on for him to claim the mark for himself. So he was glad to have accomplished that task in his sophomore season.

“Beating his record was my goal at the beginning of the year, and I beat that,” he said. “And I eventually got the Pasco record. I felt really good.”

One goal that the team didn’t accomplish was a state title. The Seahawks fell to Merritt Island 1-0 in the Class 3A state semifinals on Feb. 13. But the team finished with a perfect 16-0 district record and a 29-2-1 overall record.

While the Seahawks wanted to win the title, Pimm said he was proud of the team for playing hard, not giving up, and staying positive.

In fact, a positive mindset is a big part of Pimm’s game. He studies the best professional soccer players — he wants to be one someday — and noticed they bring an intensity and focus even if thing aren’t going exactly the way they want on the pitch.

Pimm believes good players need to have a positive attitude that things will go well, but a short memory if they don’t.

“The secret to scoring this many goals is to quickly forget when you miss one,” he said. “Also studying the game — which is a huge part — watching the professionals do it, and visualizing myself in their position.”

While the Seahawks’ season is over, soccer is still on Pimm’s mind. He plays for the FC Tampa Rangers, a local club based in Lutz, and will participate in the State Cup for the team’s Under-16 boys group, which begins next month.

But wherever he plays, Pimm has learned to keep his attention on the contest at hand, taking deep breaths to regain his focus when necessary.

And he’s also learned patience. While he might score multiple goals in some games, in others those opportunities might not be there in the beginning. He believes the key is to not dwell on a lack of success, but focus on taking advantage at the next available opportunity.

“At no point in the game should you ever hang your head and give up,” he said.

Published Feb. 26, 2014.

A little coincidence: Three Bulls headed to Bethel

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At first glance, the Wiregrass Ranch Bulls didn’t have a spectacular football campaign last season.

Jordan Mutcherson, center, make a key tackle for Wiregrass Ranch in a game against Ridgewood last season. Mutcherson and two other teammates will continue to play together at Bethel College in Kansas. (Courtesy of Sniper-shots.com)
Jordan Mutcherson, center, make a key tackle for Wiregrass Ranch in a game against Ridgewood last season. Mutcherson and two other teammates will continue to play together at Bethel College in Kansas. (Courtesy of Sniper-shots.com)

They finished 0-5 in Class 7A-District 7 play, and 4-6 overall. However, their points for and points against numbers were respectable, and a couple games were losses by just one score. But their performance on the field attracted the interest of some college football teams.

One school in Kansas was paying particular attention.

Bethel College, a Christian liberal arts college in North Newton, will welcome three Wiregrass Ranch football players as incoming freshmen this fall: Jordan Mutcherson, Giomani Davis and John Harris-Scott IV. And the players consider having familiar faces in the locker room to be an advantage.

“I feel like I’ll have somebody to rely on. Two people, now,” said Harris-Scott, who will play at either running back or safety for Bethel.

Harris-Scott said David and Mutcherson were his good friends, but they didn’t discuss going to Bethel together until they had individually decided to accept their offers.

Davis, who will available at tailback and slot receiver, agrees that it helps to know some teammates before setting foot on campus.

“It’s like good competition, to see who’s doing better and see who’s seeing the field first,” he said. “Also they’re people to motivate you because they know your full potential and what you can do.”

The Bethel College Threshers play in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, which is affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. While the NAIA represents smaller colleges than the more-famous National Collegiate Athletic Association, it represents more than 250 schools and has almost two dozen championships across various sports.

Although games might not be in the mammoth 80,000-seat stadiums found in NCAA Division I football, Mutcherson is looking forward to suiting up. He isn’t worried about how many people are in the stands – Thresher Stadium seats 2,500– as long as he can compete.

“I have love for the game so it really doesn’t matter,” he said. “Many people don’t get the opportunity to go to the next level and play a little football.”

Mutcherson will be considered at linebacker and defensive end for his college team.

The trio will look to help out a Threshers football program that has struggled recently. The team has produced two winless seasons and a pair of two-win seasons over the past four years. But they ended last season with a victory, have a new coach at the helm and an incoming group of freshmen who hope to contribute immediately.

The Wiregrass Ranch players aren’t intimidated by the pressure to improve a struggling program, Mutcherson said, because they just did the same thing this past football season.

“We had a big turnaround for the school here,” he said.

The Bulls’ 4-6 record looks average on paper, except Wiregrass Ranch was coming off back-to-back 0-10 seasons. First-year coach Mike Lawrence gave the team a new attitude and work ethic, and that translated into success and respectability on the field.

“Coach Lawrence instilled more discipline. We just had a change in thinking, and we were working out harder,” said Davis, who endured one of the winless seasons before the turnaround. “It just changed our program.”

The players believe they can bring the same intensity to Bethel College.

They’ll also have to get used to a change in climate, as snow could be a part of their football forecasts. But Harris-Scott said it won’t be a concern for him.

“It’s going to be real cold. I’m from up north, so I’m OK with the snow,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the change” in weather.

Of course, there’s more to college life than football, and all three said they want to direct their studies toward business. Harris-Scott wants to focus on the home health field, Mutcherson is looking toward sports management, and Davis wants to consider entrepreneurial opportunities.

The three student-athletes are planning a group trip to Kansas in the near future and are looking forward to college life in the fall. And whatever happens on the field and on campus, they know they won’t have to face it alone.

“When we signed, we sat next to each other,” Mutcherson said. “After we signed we shook each other’s hands and said ‘See you in Bethel.’“

Published Feb. 19, 2014

Wiregrass Ranch’s Melosky eclipses 1,000 points

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A high-scoring basketball player in her junior year might consider scoring 1,000 points a realistic goal before her senior year. But Wiregrass Ranch’s Amanda Melosky won’t even be thinking about that milestone next year.

Not many players reach 1,000 points in a high school career, and even fewer accomplish it their junior year like Wiregrass Ranch’s Amanda Melosky. (File Photo)
Not many players reach 1,000 points in a high school career, and even fewer accomplish it their junior year like Wiregrass Ranch’s Amanda Melosky. (File Photo)

It’s not that Melosky isn’t a talented scorer. In fact, she’s so good that she didn’t need her senior year to reach 1,000 points. She eclipsed that mark on Jan. 23 in a win at home against Anclote.

When that 1,000th point was scored, the game was stopped and her teammates came out to cheer her for reaching the milestone. Melosky even received a game ball to commemorate the accomplishment.

And according to Bulls coach John Gant, she didn’t get those points with uncontested baskets or a lot of long-range shots. She collected them in hard-fought battles to the basket.

“She’s earning them in the trenches, in the paint, working hard and getting put-back, getting rebounds, working to get position,” he said. “She’s earning everything she’s getting. She’s one of the hardest-working individuals I’ve ever coached.”

That’s high praise from Gant, who completed his third year at Wiregrass Ranch, but has been coaching for more than three decades. He said that it’s one thing to find a player with talent, but the really good ones — like Melosky — have a lot of drive, a strong desire to succeed and consistently work hard to improve their skills and abilities.

Melosky is proud of achieving the 1,000-point mark, but is especially happy it occurred during a successful campaign for Wiregrass Ranch.

“I feel like it’s a big milestone. It was a good year to do it because we’re having a very successful season,” she said. “I’d rather the team have a good year than me reach a milestone any day. I like winning more than anything.”

While Melosky was scoring, the Bulls were certainly winning a lot of games. Although they fell in the playoffs to Strawberry Crest on Feb. 6, they finished with a 26-4 record, including a 13-game win streak in the middle of the season. She said that team success is important to her, so while she takes shots when she thinks she has an opportunity to score, she also won’t hesitate to pass to a teammate if they’re open.

Big numbers are a part of Melosky’s basketball game, but they’re also present in her records off the court as well: She’s maintained a 3.9 GPA. She attributes a successful balance of sports (Melosky also plays soccer) and school success to time management and making sure that neither side of her school career is neglected.

“When I’m not practicing, I’m normally doing my homework. I don’t normally have time to do much else, but that’s more important,” she said.

While she’s already eclipsed the 1,000-point mark, Melosky still has a couple of goals in her sights for next season. She has a realistic shot of reaching 1,500 points for her career, and she’s just 310 rebounds away from recording 1,000 there as well.

Gant recalled when college football great Herschel Walker was a junior at Georgia, his coach said the best thing about him was that he’d be coming back for another year. Walker ended up turning pro, and didn’t come back.

But this isn’t college, and Gant can be more confident in Melosky’s return to help the Bulls continue putting up points and winning games.

“Since it’s high school, I’m comfortable saying that the best thing about Amanda Melosky is she’s coming back,” he said.

Published Feb. 12, 2014

Liberty runs away with coveted spots in county championships

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Liberty Middle School’s track team began the season with a coach who wasn’t just new to the school, she was new to coaching. And she wasn’t going to hide her enthusiasm when it came to supporting her team.

Under first-year coach Toni Kuzmicki, far right, Liberty Middle School’s track team sent 17 athletes to the county championship. (Courtesy of Liberty Middle School)
Under first-year coach Toni Kuzmicki, far right, Liberty Middle School’s track team sent 17 athletes to the county championship. (Courtesy of Liberty Middle School)

“If you had seen me at the track meet, I was the one in the middle of the field screaming her head off,” Toni Kuzmicki said.

Kuzmicki’s enthusiasm paid off for the school, which excelled at their cluster track meet, where athletes from different schools compete in eight events: shot put, long jump, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter open, 800-meter run, 4-x-100 meter relay and 4-x-200 meter relay. Only the top two in each category move on to the county championships, where the top finishers in cluster track meets from across the county compete for spots in the finals.

Liberty not only sent 17 athletes to the county championships, but was represented in the finals in the long jump, 100-meter dash, 800-meter run and the 4-x-100 meter relay.

While Kuzmicki was learning the ropes when it came to coaching, she already had plenty of experience with track events. She was a district champion four years in a row at her high school in Miami, participating in the one-mile and two-mile competitions. She also ran track in college at Nova Southeastern University, and was able to use that background to educate and motivate her team to excel.

The athletes responded to Kuzmicki’s coaching style.

“She worked with the sprinters and she was able to really give them good advice,” runner Alejandro Michel said of his coach. “We were able to take a lot more kids to county than last year.”

He went on to reach the finals and placed seventh in the 800-meter run.  Michel also ran track in the sixth and seventh grades, but said that the athletes now have an especially good attitude and relationship with the coaching staff.

Charisma Henry, an eighth-grader who was part of the group that went to the finals, agrees that Kuzmicki and her coaches made a big difference.

“The way they coached, it was cool because we raced against each other and they timed us,” she said. “And we kept on doing that, trying to get better times. And we also conditioned before and after practice.”

Henry believes that the practices set the tone for the team to take things more seriously, and produced better times as a result. In Henry’s case, this year’s trip to the finals was her first.

She also said that even though they raced against each other in practice, the team had strong camaraderie during the races. When she was running, she could hear people cheering and rooting for them.

“You could hear Liberty from miles away. It was really great,” she said.

Kuzmicki is proud of her team’s accomplishments and praised her coaching staff — Jessica Macrae, Stephanie Padilla and Katie Smith — noting that they were all first-time coaches. But she’s also started thinking about how to build on this year’s success.

A number of her top performers were sixth-graders, meaning they still have a couple of years to grow and succeed on the team. Kuzmicki told them to build on the success they achieved.

She’s also looking forward to growing as a coach, and improving the regimen she planned for her athletes. Conditioning is already one area designated to become a priority next year.

“We kind of just took their natural ability and ran with that, but next year we’ll know to get that muscle memory formed at the beginning, and then push them as we go,” Kuzmicki said.

Published Feb. 5, 2014

Pasco’s new cheerleading state champion is Sunlake

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Just weeks after they took the Best of Pasco crown, the Sunlake High School cheerleading squad earned a new honor last weekend: Class 1A Medium division champions for the state.

They had to wait a day because of snow in the Panhandle, but the Sunlake High School cheerleading squad took the state crown for the first time last weekend in Kissimmee. (Courtesy of Pennye Garcia
They had to wait a day because of snow in the Panhandle, but the Sunlake High School cheerleading squad took the state crown for the first time last weekend in Kissimmee.
(Courtesy of Pennye Garcia

The cheerleaders took the FHSAA crown during the competition in Kissimmee, where they were the only school representing Pasco County.

“The girls are very excited, as well as myself,” Sunlake head coach Pennye Garcia said in a release. “They have been trained to know that we need to focus on the task at hand. Between the semifinal and final competition, I made a couple of changes to better our score, and it proved to be in our favor.”

The first FHSAA state championship for the team had to come with some waiting. The cheerleaders earned first place during competition Jan. 30, but one team competing got held up by weather, and didn’t make it there until Friday, Garcia said. Everyone had to wait until the next day, to give that team a chance to compete.

However, late Friday, Garcia got the email that Sunlake had won it all.

The cheerleaders will receive their trophy and medals during a planned pep rally at Sunlake Feb. 14.

To see highlights of the winning routine from Sunlake, visit Bright House Sports Networks at tinyurl.com/SunlakeCheer.

Published Feb. 5, 2014

 

Rangers join youth soccer elite, take national showcase

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December’s Disney Soccer Showcase attracted teams from all over the country, including Ohio, New York, Texas, Tennessee and Michigan. But the winner of the Boys Under-16 division traveled less than 90 miles to get to the tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee. 

The FC Tampa Rangers, based in Lutz, won the Under-16 boys division at the Disney Soccer Showcase in December. The victory gave them national notoriety in youth soccer circles. (Courtesy of Mike Connell)
The FC Tampa Rangers, based in Lutz, won the Under-16 boys division at the Disney Soccer Showcase in December. The victory gave them national notoriety in youth soccer circles. (Courtesy of Mike Connell)

The FC Tampa Rangers, based in Lutz, won the U-16 tournament Dec. 27-30. They got past three other teams in their bracket, winning against all three while allowing just one goal in the process, and reached the finals to face the winner of the other bracket.

That opponent, Dix Hills from New York, is ranked No. 2 in the country and hadn’t allowed a single goal in their bracket play.

The end result? A 4-1 victory for the Rangers and more notoriety for an organization that’s becoming known for strong play and a competitive spirit on the national stage.

“I’m incredibly proud of the boys and the way they represented themselves and the club,” said Mike Connell, director of coaching for the Rangers organization. “It was a huge step for the club because the performance put the FC Tampa Rangers on the national soccer map.”

While he doesn’t think the team was taken lightly, Connell believes the Rangers played at a level their opponents probably didn’t expect, either. In just a few years, the players have become well educated in the game and have a good feel for their roles on the pitch; and Connell said that college scouts at the tournament took note of the team’s impressive play.

While the Rangers strive to be one of the best youth soccer clubs in the country, they have a global perspective regarding the game they play. Connell wants them thinking about winning soccer as its played in other continents like Europe, Africa and South America. The team takes a European-style approach to the game, which involves controlled passing and a patient tempo, as opposed to just kicking the ball and using speed to chase it down.

The style they emulate is being used by successful professional clubs such as Barcelona FC in Spain’s La Liga, AFC Ajax from the Netherlands and Arsenal from the English Premier League, Connell said.

And Connell knows a thing or two about winning soccer himself. As a member of the Tampa Bay Rowdies in their heyday, he was part of the team’s North American Soccer League championship in 1975. The two-time NASL all-star defender played for the Rowdies until 1984, and is now a big part of local youth soccer. His ability to teach beyond the fundamentals of the game, and provide insight to playing at a championship level, has had a positive effect on the team’s players.

“He’s probably the best coach I’ve ever had,” said Steve Rudderham, the Rangers’ center midfielder, who has been playing the game for more than a decade. Connell is popular with the players, but won’t hesitate to be tough on them if they’re not listening or showing proper respect for the game, he added.

The result has been a very successful youth club, and also a different experience than Rudderham has found on other teams. He lives in Pinellas County and plays for his school’s team, and says the Rangers play better soccer than he’s found at the high school level.

“You don’t get much training in high school. It’s just a thrown-together team, whereas in club you have good coaches and good players, and they all want to be there,” Rudderham said. “They all take it seriously.”

While a high school soccer team works with the players who attend the school and are interested in playing, a youth soccer club draws from an entire area, meaning more competition and better talent. Rudderham estimates between 50 and 60 athletes tried out for the Rangers, with only perhaps half of that number trying out for his high school soccer team.

The Rangers have parlayed that talent and coaching into a winning team with a new trophy on its mantle, but its season isn’t over yet. After more league play, the State Cup will begin this spring, which is considered the main tournament.

It’s also a chance for the Rangers to take another step forward: Last year (as Under-15 players) the Rangers reached the final four at the state competition. Now, with an extra year of experience and a confidence boost from successful play against opponents from around the country, Rudderham thinks the team can go even further and compete for a championship.

To do that, they’ll have to get past rival Sunrise, who won last year’s State Cup for U-15 boys. Like the old Tampa Bay Rowdies-Ft. Lauderdale Strikers battles from decades past, Connell believes that a healthy rivalry against a quality opponent makes a team better, and helps players focus on playing with a purpose.

“You can play soccer just for the sake of playing soccer, or you can play soccer with an ambition,” Connell said. “We try to strive that there’s always an ambition ahead of you.”

Published Jan. 29, 2014

Sunlake perfect in district, poised for playoffs

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When the Sunlake High School boys soccer team defeated the Pasco Pirates 3-2 on Jan. 9, they probably weren’t surprised they won the game. The victory meant the team completed district play for the season with a perfect 16-0 record.

A perfect 16-0 record, and 23-1-1 overall, has the Sunlake Seahawks in position to go all the way to the top in boys soccer. And after a disappointing loss in the state semis last year, they’re ready to do just that. (Photo courtesy of Sam Koleduk)
A perfect 16-0 record, and 23-1-1 overall, has the Sunlake Seahawks in position to go all the way to the top in boys soccer. And after a disappointing loss in the state semis last year, they’re ready to do just that. (Photo courtesy of Sam Koleduk)

If anything, they might have wondered how they gave up two goals. Adding those two, the team gave up just four goals in 16 district games for Class 3A-District 8.

On the other side of the ledger, the Seahawks scored 101 goals in those same contests. They registered 13 shutouts, including six by the score of 8-0.

While they’ve dominated their district, they’re almost as good in overall play. They’ve collected a 23-1-1 record with 138 goals scored. But amazingly, that record is actually a slight drop-off from last year, when they won 30 straight games before losing in the Class 3A state semifinals to Ponte Vedra 2-1.

By the numbers, it might look like the Seahawks are an offense-first team. But according to Coach Sam Koleduk, that’s not really the case.

“We’re more of a complete team, I think,” he said. “Right now we’re the leading scoring team in the country, and we’ve also given up the least amount of goals, also.”

There are a few factors that go into building the kind of success they’re having at Sunlake, Koleduk said. The team has a lot of players who also participate in local clubs, so they’re not just thinking about soccer for their school schedule. That extra work allows them to stay on top of their game so they’re ready to play at practice and during games.

Their junior varsity program also is strong — the team was undefeated this past season. Koleduk said it allows him to replace skilled players who graduate with talented, experienced athletes who are ready to play at the varsity level.

Finally, having a good team allows them to adjust their style of play to put more pressure on their opponent. Instead of a more traditional 4-4-2 formation — with four players in the back, four in the middle and two attacking up front — Sunlake often plays a 3-4-3 formation, putting an extra attacker up front and forcing an opponent into a more defensive posture from the start.

But that type of attack also means fewer players on defense if the opponent breaks through, so the goalkeeper has to be ready to make the necessary saves. Fortunately for the Seahawks, sophomore Danny Hrenko has been up to the task. Picking up where he left off as a freshman, Hrenko is frustrating opponents on the rare occasions they create a scoring opportunity.

He said that while he’s the man in front of the net, his teammates are the ones who deserve credit for shutting down opponents.

“The key is really my defense, to be honest,” Hrenko said. “It’s all about organizing them.”

Even when there are fewer players in the back, the team’s style doesn’t put him in difficult situations, and the defenders are able to neutralize the opponent most of the time.

But when the team has had relatively close games, Hrenko has usually helped them come out of them with a win. He said he enjoys making tough saves and proving the team is as tough defensively as it is prolific on offense.

“I like when I have a good shot against me and I make a good save. It makes me feel like I’ve done my part on this team,” he said.

With many players doing their part — sophomore Remi Pimm leads the nation in scoring — getting a step farther than last year seems like a reasonable goal. And while Koleduk — who has been with the team since the school opened back in 2007 — acknowledges his Seahawks are a talented team with a lot of promise, he said there are more variables that go into a trip to the state finals and a potential championship.

And not all of them are in the team’s control.

“We’ve got to stay focused, and it sounds funny, but a little bit of luck,” he said. “To make it all the way through without losing, you have to have a little luck on your side also, I think.

“Basically, you have to stay focused and healthy.”

It’s 1,000 and counting for Ke’Shawn Ingram

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On Dec. 19, senior point guard Ke’Shawn Ingram joined a pretty exclusive club: boys basketball players from Steinbrenner High School who have scored 1,000 points or more in their careers.

Steinbrenner High School has its first 1,000-point player in boys basketball, as Ke’Shawn Ingram earned those honors late last month. Despite being one of the top offensive teams in the region, it’s defense that’s hurting the Warriors, dropping them to a 6-11 record.
Steinbrenner High School has its first 1,000-point player in boys basketball, as Ke’Shawn Ingram earned those honors late last month. Despite being one of the top offensive teams in the region, it’s defense that’s hurting the Warriors, dropping them to a 6-11 record.

In fact, it’s so exclusive that he’s the only member.

Ingram reached that mark by scoring 25 points in a home game against Sickles. And while the end result was a 69-55 loss for the Warriors, who are going through a challenging season at 6-11 (3-4 in district play), that milestone is a definite bright spot for the program.

But the player who set a new standard for boys basketball excellence at Steinbrenner isn’t doing much celebrating. The team’s lack of wins weighs more on his mind than his personal accomplishment.

“Don’t get me wrong, I like it. I’m proud of myself, but it’s not my first concern,” Ingram said about setting the mark. “The main goal is for my team to go as far as we can.”

The Warriors are having no problem scoring points: With Ingram’s help, they lead their district in points favored by a comfortable margin. In fact, the next closest team is more than 150 points back.

Defense, however, has been a problem, as they also have the most points against — also more than 150 points ahead of the second-worst mark in Class 7A-District 8. Ingram acknowledges the defensive issues and says the team is working on techniques to improve for the rest of the season.

If it seems unusual that a high-scoring senior is more worried about team defense than his personal offensive records, it might be because Ke’Shawn Ingram is an unusual athlete. His 6-foot-1, 165-pound frame is well-suited to sports, but his 3.66 GPA shows that his focus is on more than racking up points on the court.

“School always comes first for me,” Ingram explained. If the team doesn’t have practice after school, homework is at the top of his agenda once he gets home, with extra basketball work coming later in the evening. His goal is to play college basketball (he hasn’t chosen a school yet, but would prefer to stay in the south) and study sports marketing, eventually working with a professional basketball team.

His coach, Reggie Anderson, believes Ingram has the ability to find employment with a basketball team, but not just in an office job. Maybe to actually hit the court.

“He does have that potential,” Anderson said. “He’s going to have to go to college and get bigger and stronger. But he has the natural tools, and definitely would have the opportunity to play at that level.”

Anderson isn’t just a proud local coach boasting about a star player. While this is his first year at Steinbrenner, he has 18 years of coaching experience. During that time, Anderson has coached a number of players who have advanced to the NBA, including current Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Jodie Meeks.

He said that Ingram shares many qualities that his best players have, even beyond sheer talent and ability to score points. They all have humility, a strong work ethic and a desire to always get better, and he believes those qualities are the ones that will help Ingram succeed.

“He’s a much better person off the court than he is a player on the court,” Anderson said. “He’s the total package.”

For now, Ingram will continue to focus more on team goals than personal accomplishments, even though he’s already extended his school-best record to beyond 1,100 points. He said that his best friends are on the team, and they didn’t even discuss getting 1,000 points before the game in which he set the mark.

And, just as Anderson indicated, Ingram will keep trying to get better both on and off the court. He said that achieving success in class has similarities to success in basketball.

“I would say you have to be focused and persistent,” Ingram said. “You have to keep at it. If you’re not understanding something, you can ask for help; just like on the court, you can ask for help from your teammates.”

Steinbrenner girls off to hot hoops start

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When a high school basketball team loses seven players — including three starters — to graduation, the following season will present some big challenges. One could probably call it a “rebuilding” year.

Just don’t use that word when talking to Steinbrenner girls coach J.R. Allen.

Olivia Unger, a senior point guard on the Warriors team, reaches for the ball, proving that a strong defense is necessary for success. Steinbrenner is 20-3, and currently leads Class 7A-District 8.
Olivia Unger, a senior point guard on the Warriors team, reaches for the ball, proving that a strong defense is necessary for success. Steinbrenner is 20-3, and currently leads Class 7A-District 8.

“That whole mindset, I don’t allow my kids to think like that,” Allen said. “To me, that’s kind of making an excuse to where you can have an average year.”

Allen’s team seems to have received the message because they aren’t having an average year: The Warriors are currently 20-3, and sit atop Class 7A-District 8 with a 6-1 record. The team began the season with a 12-game winning streak, and their three losses have been to teams with a combined record of 52-7.

Allen credits the team’s strong start to a suffocating defense: Just five teams have been able to reach the 40-point threshold against them. In fact, he said that the Warriors have kept almost every opponent to at least 20 points below their scoring average.

“That’s why we’ve had the success we’ve had, because this whole team has bought in, heart and soul, to what it really means to play team defense and shut people down,” Allen said.

Steinbrenner also is good at pulling out a victory in close contests: The team is 4-1 in games decided by six points or less. But that isn’t an accident, either. The team specifically practices late-game circumstances that put their players in pressure situations. Whether they’re down by one point with less than a minute left in the game, or they have a small lead to protect and no timeouts remaining — if they face that situation in a real game, odds are they’ve dealt with something similar in practice.

But when it comes to the one main factor in the team’s success, sophomore Courtney Hall agrees with her coach.

“I think definitely our strongest quality is our defense. We just can’t be stopped,” she said.

The team’s philosophy is to have everyone on the court provide pressure and make things difficult for the opposing offense.

Hall also played for Steinbrenner in her freshman year, though not as a starter. She acknowledges that the previous year’s team featured players who were on the court together for a long time and knew each other well, and the current team had to find their own chemistry. But they’ve done so with a stingy defense and a focus on not allowing the opponent to get second chances at scoring.

Hall is Steinbrenner’s leading rebounder, and said that a big team focus is on making sure there are no easy follow-ups when an opponent tries for points.

“If you’re going to take a shot, you’re only getting one shot, and all of us are crashing the boards,” she said.

While the team’s philosophy has earned them a strong record and the top spot in the district, it will be the district tournament and playoffs that will determine how far the Warriors go. And with more than a decade of coaching experience (including coaching boys earlier in his career), Allen has led teams with various skill levels and abilities.

But it’s this Steinbrenner team that has him confident in ways he hasn’t been in the past.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been able to say this in 12 years: This team could win a state championship,” Allen said. “Now will they? Obviously that depends on how we finish and me getting them to absolutely believe that unequivocally with no doubts, and we’re still working on it.

“But I truly believe this team could play for a state championship.”

Wiregrass Ranch girls hoopsters create buzz with fast start

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With nearly three decades of basketball coaching experience, John Gant usually knows what to expect from his players. And going into his third season coaching the Wiregrass Ranch High School girls, he expected to have a strong team.

But even he admits he didn’t see 19 wins in their first 20 games.

Wiregrass Ranch captain Logan Seoane goes for a jump ball back in her early days on the Bulls varsity team. Now Seoane and her teammates are charging through the regular season, picking up 19 wins in their first 20 games.
Wiregrass Ranch captain Logan Seoane goes for a jump ball back in her early days on the Bulls varsity team. Now Seoane and her teammates are charging through the regular season, picking up 19 wins in their first 20 games.

“I did expect a good year. I did not anticipate quite this good a record, but I did anticipate a good year for my kids,” he said.

But the Bulls have done just that, starting out hot with a six-game winning streak before losing on the road at district foe Steinbrenner. However, they bounced back from that defeat and have rattled off 13 straight wins (nine of those by double-digits), including an eight-point victory over Steinbrenner in the rematch.

Gant identifies a couple of important team traits that has led to the Bulls’ success. First, the team is unselfish, with scoring relatively evenly distributed and no one player dominating the stat sheet. And second, the Bulls play an up-tempo game with an eye for fast break opportunities and plenty of running up and down the court.

While Wiregrass Ranch’s record is a marked improvement over previous seasons, Gant said his coaching philosophy hasn’t changed. The difference is the team’s receptiveness to what the coaching staff teaches and their ability to come together and excel behind that philosophy.

“It is not difficult to teach” unselfish play, he said. “It is sometimes difficult for kids to buy into it. Really, it comes down to the kids and do they want to buy into it and really make themselves a team, a cohesive unit.”

Bulls captain Logan Seoane, a senior in her fourth year playing for her school, believes her teammates have done just that.

“A lot of us have played together for a long time, and we just clicked this year,” said Seoane, who plays center for Wiregrass Ranch. She also said that developing a fast-break philosophy has meant challenging practices with a lot of transition work, efforts to limit turnovers and a full-court mindset.

But the hard work has been worth it, and other teams have had trouble keeping up with the Bulls.

Still, with all the team’s success, Wiregrass Ranch sits tied with the Steinbrenner Seahawks for the lead in Class 7A-District 8. Both teams have lost just one district game — to each other. If both teams win out, Gant said that regular tiebreakers probably won’t settle the issue. A simple coin toss could determine the tournament seeding, in which the top two teams will advance into the playoffs.

The fact that a 19-1 record doesn’t assure them the top seed in the tournament for a playoff berth isn’t lost on Gant. But he said that tournament seeding isn’t that important, since there will be tough games no matter where they finish.

“We have one of the toughest districts in the state,” he said. That includes Sickles, currently 14-4 overall and 2-3 in the district, as well as Freedom, which is 13-3 overall, and 2-3 in the district.

Of course, no one can forget Steinbrenner, which is currently 19-2, and 5-1 in the district.

“And we’re all very good,” Gant said. “You’re going to have a tough opponent no matter where you are.”

Rather than worry about tournament seeding, part of the team’s philosophy is to just take things one game at a time and not look ahead or take anything for granted. In fact, the coach believes that there’s nothing to take for granted yet, since they haven’t guaranteed themselves anything.

“We’re 19-1, and we’re 5-1 in district,” Gant said. “What’s it mean? Absolutely nothing if you don’t take care of business.”

Their next piece of business is a home game against Freedom on Jan. 8.

His team has also bought into that message as well. When asked how far she thought the team could go this year, Seoane responded with an answer that would make her coach proud: “We just have to take it step by step.”