Home | Back

Flyers look to continue success while replacing last year's seven seniors

Share_print Print Story    |    Comments    |   

By CHASE SEWELL/State Journal Sports Writer
November 28, 2009

Sitting on its laurels is a luxury the Franklin County boys basketball team doesn’t have.


The Flyers have won two straight district titles with height and talent, but after graduating seven seniors last season, things are changing at FCHS.


“Our focus has to be a lot more on rebounding, on technique and blocking out and things like that,” FCHS coach Scott Chalk said. “Last year we worked on it, but we got a lot of rebounds because we were big and we took up some space. We don’t have that luxury this year. That’s probably our No. 1 concern.


“As far as the talent level, we feel like we have a lot of talent, different players, but a lot of talent. We still feel like we can do some things and score some points.”


Leading that talent is 6-foot-4 senior Vance Hall. Last season Hall was mostly a setup man for now-graduated players like Andy Donovan, Barrett Meyer and Ryan Conner. But things are going to change this season.


“Vance is going to have a huge year,” Chalk said. “He has only gotten a lot better even since last year. He was one of our best players last year. He’s going to have a great year and be really exciting to watch.


“He’s going to be a lot more aggressive and looking to score this year,” he added. “The past couple of years, he’s been more of a setup guy and has been looking to hook everyone else up. People will be surprised when he starts looking for his shot. He scored a lot of points this summer, so I think he’ll press the issue a lot more.”


Along with Hall, FCHS will have a host of seniors who may not have seen a lot of playing time in recent seasons but will need to make an impact.


“Brandon Jennels is coming on and I think he’ll have a big year,” Chalk said. “He played well last year too, but he’ll have a bigger role this year.


“We have a good core of good athletes with some other seniors,” he added. “Sean Thompson is playing this year like Michael Samples and Bryce Burton and Lyndon McKee and Jordan Parris, all those guys are seniors that will be playing again.”


The Flyers also have some talented youth to go along with their experienced players.


“We have some good underclassmen in Will Bell, Eric Meyer and Ryan Timmons who will all see action this season,” Chalk said. “We have a nice mix of guys.


 “They’re all going to play,” he added. “We’re going to have some depth. It’ll just be a question of how well each of them plays that will determine who plays the most. We have a nice group of guys that are all kind of equal. Everyone does something well that someone else doesn’t. We’re pretty versatile and they’re all pretty good athletes so we’ll have more quickness than we had last year.”


Just like last season, FCHS finds itself with a tough schedule from the beginning to the end. The Flyers open the season Tuesday at home against Bullitt East and then will play Clay County Saturday in the Battle of the Bluegrass at the Convention Center. FCHS then takes on 7th Region runner-up Jeffersontown Dec. 8 before opening up district play Dec. 11 against Woodford County.


“It’s going to be tough,” Chalk said about his team’s schedule. “I don’t know that we can go 21-5 again. We might be able to but I couldn’t guarantee that.


“When I look at (the schedule), there are a lot more games that are a toss-up,” he added. “It depends on how we do that night. It’s going to be tough for us but by the end of the year, this team could be dangerous and make some noise. We could have a shot to win the district again. We’ll have to see how things go.”




Comments
By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. State-Journal.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.

Login above or Register to comment.
 0 Total Comments Home | Back