By Mackie Grady Posted December 20, 2019
The JV boys started their season off with a scrimmage loss on November 23 against Reno High.
Sophomore, Giovani Sapien, believes the team needs to work on their offense together.
“We need to work on our offense and get it up to speed. Working on press breaker to get past the tougher teams’ defenses,” said Sapien. ”Our defense is really good, but we need to work on getting to the rim and finishing. We can get our offense on lockdown and be able to move the ball faster than the other teams.”
To make sure the team is prepared for every game, they have been working hard in practice.
“We need to communicate more so we know our roles,” said Sakurada. “This year, the game is a lot faster, and the players are taller and more talented. We have been working on our full and half-court press. My goal for the season is to become more of a team and win as many games as we can. In practice, we need to ensure we are ready for our games and go through all of our plays by doing a lot of drills.”
Going from a freshman team to a JV team, the pace is faster, and the team needs to handle the ball with control in order to achieve their planned goals.
“I’ve been working on my game all around, nothing specific but to be better,” said Gaitan.”My goals are to help the team be the top team in the league. Both defensively and offensively, we are trying to make our level of play better.”
With new kids on the team, it takes time and patience to get everyone playing together.
“My goals for the season are to win every game and create good chemistry with some of the new teammates,” said Fernandez. “The level of play compared to last year is a little different; we are a little slower, but I think we will get better as time goes on. In practice, we try to play like it’s a game; that way, we are ready for a game-like scenario.”
The JV boys traveled to Reno for another tournament on December 4, going 2-1 in the tournament. The team beat Reno High by 25, Damonte Ranch by eight, and came up short by three against Spanish Springs in the championship game.
On December 19 and 20, they are back on the road to play Truckee and North Valleys.
Roster: Kaiden Boyles, Zach Fernandez, Logan Fettic, Giovani Sapien, Wyatte Sakurada, Enoc Gaitan, Iysis Arriola, Gunner Bradley, Ismael Magana, Cal Peters, and Braidyn Anderson, coached by Grant Beatty.
