By Kyle LoJacono
The Zephyrhills High boys basketball program won two state titles in 1962 and 1964 and first-year coach Dustin Rowe is looking to bring back those glory days.
Rowe was a Zephyrhills assistant for three years under 13-year coach Alan Reed before being named the Bulldogs leader in April.
“Coach Reed did a great job setting the standard here,” Rowe said. “He set the definition for what all our Zephyrhills programs should be. I hope to keep the momentum he started.”
Before coming to east Pasco County, Rowe was a boys and girls assistant in Montana and helped guide the girls team to a pair of state championships.
Last season the team reached the Class 4A, District 8 semifinals, losing in overtime to Lecanto High. If they had advanced to the final they would have earned a regional tournament birth. The Bulldogs lost four starters to graduation, but those who remain are using that heartbreaking loss as fuel for this season.
“That just makes me want to play harder,” said senior forward Wesley Novak. “We know we lost some players, but I think we have a chance to make another run in districts and reach the finals this year.”
The team’s only returning starter is senior point guard Devin McLeod. He played mostly shooting guard last year, but has switched for the good of the team.
“I like the new position, but it’s not as natural for me,” McLeod said. “It’s a role that I’m still learning and I’ll do everything I can to get it down.
“Last year I was more of a role player and I know I’ll need to step up more in scoring after losing our leading scorer Kyle (Farrell),” McLeod said. “We’ll need to play strong team defense and yeah, I’ll make sure everyone is doing things the right way.”
Rowe said the only other kids returning who played significant minutes are Anson Angail and Akhil Mani. After that, the players are either new to the program or moving up from junior varsity.
“We’re not a young team, but we’re an inexperienced team,” Rowe said. “We’re playing for February, not November, and we need to make sure we get better on Tuesday than we were on Monday and better on Wednesday than we were on Tuesday. If we do that each day, I think we can be one of those teams that may not have the best overall record, but who no one wants to match up against in districts.”
The team finished 14-11 last year and is in the midst of an 11-year district title drought. The Bulldogs last won a district crown 1998, which is also the year they last won their conference.
“For us to get any kind of banners on the wall, we’re going to need to discover some of our talents as we go along,” Rowe said. “We don’t have the tallest team. Our tallest guy is 6-foot-2, so we’ll be playing a lot of half-court stuff and zone defense to help out and we’ll need to pressure the perimeter so teams with size can’t get easy passes into the paint.”
The Bulldogs season got underway at Wesley Chapel High Nov. 23 with a 60-50 loss. Their district season kicks off against Nature Coast High at home Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Lady Bulldogs learn from tough 2009-10
Jerry Stacy enters his 10th season as the Zephyrhills girls basketball coach and is hoping some struggles from last year will serve the team now.
The team finished 2-19 last year, according to Stacy, and was bitten by the injury bug early and often. The Bulldogs lost Jennifer Patria, their leading scorer from the year before, to an ACL injury and several others went down as well. That forced Stacy to use younger players in the lineup, giving them experience for this year.
“We’re just settling in right now,” Stacy said. “A lot of our players play other sports and haven’t been able to be at all the workouts. Now they’re focusing on basketball.”
Patria, a senior, has recovered from the knee injury and is the point guard for the squad. Stacy said she’s the most complete player on the team and is usually one of the leaders in rebounds, assists and steals each night.
Senior guard Lindsay Warner and junior guard Maya Clark are also be key members to the Bulldogs system.
“What we run changes each year with the strengths of the team,” Stacy said. “This year we don’t have a lot of height, so we’re going to use a lot of four-guard sets and a perimeter offense.
“We need to establish some consistency on both sides of the ball,” Stacy continued. “Once we do that we can build from there and play as a team. We know our limitations and we need to play within ourselves to have a successful year.”
The squad has started 1-2, defeating Hudson High in their opening. The Bulldogs open their district schedule Dec. 30 at Sunlake High.
