1Carteret: Students. Sports. Success.

Charmed, I’m Sure

Taken at the WCHS v Havelock HS mudfest on 4/14/08.

Final:  Lady Patriot booters 1     Havelock 0

Playoff Runs: ECHS and CHS Girls

As the spring sports season begins, the sound of gym music is still in the air. Both the girls basketball teams from ECHS and CHS made it into the second round of the playoffs.

ECHS won its conference championship, then defeated South Robeson in the opening round of the regionals. The ride ended in the second round against Union.

CHS won its conference championship, then defeated Orange and North Brunswick.

From the Daily News:

BROAD CREEK — After a hard-fought victory, it likely won’t get any easier for the Croatan girls basketball team. Ar’neka Montford tallied 22 points and the Cougars escaped North Brunswick for a 58-53 victory in the second round of the NCHSAA 2-A playoffs On Wednesday.

The Lady Cougars (26-1) will face First Flight in the 2A-East Sectional finals on Friday night at Croatan. Follow the Lady Cougars on the NCHSAA 2A East Bracket.

Fundamentals of Coaching

On Monday Feb 18, fifty area coaches will convene at the Civic Center for a top-shelf workshop geared toward high school and middle school coaches.  It is the National Federation of High Schools’ “Fundamentals of Coaching” course.  The presenter is Mark Dreiblebis of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

This is not an X’s and O’s strategy session.  Rather, this course is about quality leadership . . . plain and simple.   The course components are as follows:

• Unit 1:   Educational Athletics and the Role of the Coach
• Unit 2:   The Coach as Manager
• Unit 3:   The Coach and Interpersonal Skills
• Unit 4:   The Coach and Physical Conditioning
• Unit 5:   The Coach as Teacher

This workshop is the second of three professional development opportunities this year designed to enhance the delivery of our school system’s interscholastic athletic mission.  The first event was held for 53 coaches on August 16-17.  It is chronicled on this blog under the heading “Physicality.”

The third event is for high school athletic directors.  It is the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association annual conference.  This year it will be held in Asheville on March16-19.  Attending the conference this year will be ECHS athletic directors Clinton Montford and George Burbella, Croatan Athletic Director David Perry, West Carteret Athletic Director Craig McClanahan and Robert Lancaster, and Carteret County Athletic Director Joe Poletti.

While there, the Athletic Directors will take foundation and leadership courses in the Athletic Leadership Training program.

The Story Continues: CHS Girls Hoops

Those watching the team evolve over the years  knew this year would be special.  True to the script, the Lady Cougars (20-1) have captured the regular season crown and advance into the conference tournament as the number one seed.

From the News-Times:

The 2007-2008 girls basketball season has been a special one for Croatan and Tuesday night’s final home contest was the icing on the proverbial cake when the lady Cougars defeated the South Lenoir Blue Devils 57-50.

“It was a terrific night,” said lady Cougar coach Steve Yount. “Especially for the seniors. They have done a lot for the girls basketball program here at Croatan, and to go and play well on Senior Night was terrific. ”

Croatan, improving to 20-1 overall, 12-1 in the East Central Conference, will be the No. 1 seed next week in the conference tournament hosted at East Duplin. 

High School Grapplers in Post-Season

Coach David Perry and his Croataon Cougar wrestlers turned in a stellar 23-1 season.  They lost in the semi-finals of the state duals championship to ultimate state champion Orange County High School.  The Cougars are hosting the individual 2A regionals, while the West Carteret Patriots travel to South Central for the 3A individual regionals.

The top finishers will advance to state individual competition.

Sportsmanship Revisited

The NCAA Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee (report.pdf) has developed and adopted the following definitions for sportsmanship and ethical conduct.

• “Sportsmanship” is a set of behaviors to be exhibited by student-athletes, coaches, game officials, administrators and fans in athletics competition. These behaviors are based on values, including respect, civility, fairness, honestly and responsibility.

• “Ethical conduct” is a set of guiding principles with which each person follows the letter and spirit of the rules. Such conduct reflects a higher standard than law because it includes, among other principles, fundamental values that define sportsmanship.

All schools who compete in interscholastic athletics would do well to revisit sportsmanship. Here is a timely kwout from the MCMS website.

The Story: Lady Cougars

Anybody who has watched this group of girls come along knows they have a special chemistry. With Coach Yount at the helm, the Lady Cougar hoop stars have come out of the gate 13-0. This Friday, they travel to South Lenoir for a clash of titans.

Here’s a News-Times snippet on their early success—

CLINTON — The Croatan girls basketball team continued its domination on the hardwood Friday night with another impressive victory. The lady Cougars crushed the lady Dark Horses 73-57 to remain undefeated on the season.

Croatan is now 13-0 overall, 5-0 in East Central play with nine more regular season games to go.

Clinton attempted to force Croatan to turn the ball over against a full-court press, but the lady Cougars easily defeated the pressure, scoring numerous easy baskets as a result and took a 40-25 lead into the half.

Four Croatan players managed to score in double figures during the contest. Ar’neka Montford led the way with a game-high 23 points, four rebounds and five steals. Megan Bridges added 15, while Chelsea McGowen had 11 and had five rebounds. Molly Lewis rounded out the quad of double-digit scoring players with 10 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.

Postscript:  The Cougar Matmen are off to a 18-1 stellar start.   Combined, the Lady Cougars and Cougar Matmen are posting a chest-thumpin’ 31-1 record.

Braggin’ Rights Settled for Guys

The holiday tournament sealed the deal for West Carteret to claim annual bragging rights for local basketball dominance. Over the first part of the hoops season, though, many of the inter-county games were nail-biters settled by just a few points and/or in overtime.

• WCHS beat CHS three times by a total of 10 points, 1 W in OT. WCHS went 2-1 against ECHS, with 1 W in double-OT.
• ECHS went 1-2 against WCHS and 2-1 against CHS for a .500 county mark.
• CHS finished 1-5 in a lot of close battles. They capped the inter-county season by nipping ECHS 56-55 in the consolation of the Holiday Classic.

Hats off to Coach McClanahan (WCHS), Coach Anderson (ECHS), and Coach Dillard (CHS) for bringing the intense competition to the hardwoods this year. These are three very strong and animated basketball coaches with a lot of coaching experience.

This should translate into some entertaining and competitive local hoops action over the next few years. Good luck to all three HS teams as they pursue their conference schedules.

Braggin’ Rights Settled for Girls

The girls high school basketball competition for local bragging rights is settled.

• Croatan Cougars have jumped out to a 10-0 start, beating East twice and West thrice. They own the bragging rights this year and are setting themselves up to be a very interesting sports story. Stay tuned.
• The young West Carteret Patriots went 2-1 against East and 0-3 against Croatan for a combined record of 2-4.
• The rebuilding East Carteret Mariners went 0-2 against Croatan and 1-2 against West for a 1-4 record.  East grabbed some value points, however, by winning the Holiday Classic.  They took out West in the first round and avenged an earlier loss to Grammercy in the championship game.

Grammercy, the new kid in town, is certainly one to watch.  Grammercy, with a pool of only about 40 high school girls from which to select a team, beat East and West during regular season play.

Hat’s off to all the girls playing high school hoops in Carteret County, their coaches, and their fans/supporters.  Now it is on to conference play!

WCHS Avenges Loss to East

The local high school basketball season is made up of three mini-seasons. First is the settlement of local bragging rights for the year. Second is the regular conference play. Third, to the qualifiers, is the post-season journey.

In the battle for local bragging rights, WCHS Patriots shook off their demons and returned to winning form with an 81-65 domination of the ECHS Mariners on Tuesday night in the Mariner Dome.

With only one day of practice since the Friday night victory by East, WCHS Coach Craig McClanahan tinkered with the lineup. West went small and fast, went deep into the bench early, and benefited from resurgent interior prowess.

The formula proved correct as West evened the series at 1-1. This sets up some intrigue for the Holiday Classic Tournament to be held at the WCHS gym on December 26 and 27—where West, East, Croatan and Havelock will shoot it out for final say on the local bragging rights.

Here’s a highlight reel—