MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Trinity Christian boys’ basketball coach John Fowkes knows the drill — whenever a team loses as many seniors as the Warriors have, not many believe that a return trip to Charleston is in their future this season.
Trinity needs to replace 13 — thirteen! — seniors from last year’s team that reached the state semifinals, after a late rally pushed the Warriors past Greenbrier West in the quarterfinals.
That doesn’t mean Fowkes’ 2019-20 edition, which tips off its season Tuesday at Clay-Battelle, isn’t believing on the inside.
“We look at each other after practice sometimes and go, ‘Wow,’ ” he said. “We realize what we’ve got in here, and I’ll be honest with you, the sky’s the limit with this group. When you look at them, you’ve got a 6-foot-7 freshman [Matt Gadd], you’ve got these athletic freshmen, along with athletic sophomore and juniors.
“The next four or five years, we hope to put some banners in the rafters — that’s these kids’ goal.”
It’s hard for Fowkes to contain his excitement in what looks like a young and athletic team that will have a chance to mold together over the next few years. Of the 14 players on the roster, six are freshmen and two are sophomores. The few seniors are Fletcher Hartsock, Micah Travis, Nick Beimel and Seth Goins.
Hartsock is easily the most experienced, he was a regular in the rotation last season. Going from a team where he was one of the youngest to now being the grizzled old veteran hasn’t been easy, but Hartsock is taking it in stride.
“It’s a little different playing with these guys, for sure,” Hartsock said. “We are extremely young, but we have a lot of talent and athleticism. In practice, we’ve really focused on doing the little things right. The experience is more focused on learning and getting chemistry together as a team.”
Goins may be a senior, but he’s new to the Warriors program. A transfer from Morgantown High, Goins played JV for the Mohigans as a junior last season. He’s getting acclimated with how Trinity wants to run its system, but over the last three weeks of practice, he’s getting familiar with it all.
“Seth is a phenomenal players and brings skills to the team, however, he’s getting used to the dynamic of Trinity basketball but is handling it well and becoming a leader,” Hartsock said.
Goins said the transition is going smoothly — his teammates have been welcoming — and he hopes he can bring a steady presence at guard.
“I would say I bring some experience, some leadership and someone who can score at will, and at the same time, guard the other team’s best player,” Goins said.
Defense is something Fowkes is concerned about, especially with a young team. Transitioning from middle school to Class A varsity basketball isn’t easy, and the most difficult part is learning defense and realizing that talent and athleticism won’t take you very far.
“The young guys have never really been taught how to play defense,” Fowkes said. “These guys used to be able to use their athleticism to get cheap steals and take risks, but at this level, that’s gonna get you beat. They still don’t understand that, and we have to stop practice all the time because someone lost their man and doesn’t understand help defense. That’s what you get with 9th-graders and there’s a lot of teaching going on.”
Another concern is finding a replacement for Daniel Woods in the post, and Fowkes isn’t sure he has someone that can fill that spot just yet. Woods, who received several Division II offers, was 6-foot-5 and averaged 16 points per game this season.
However, Fowkes thinks Gadd can evolve into a force down low, and maybe even more than that. He has athleticism to match his height and has ball skills that could make him a great overall player once he puts it all together.
