Hornet Boys Ready For New Season

Whitcomb's Deven Hill moves around his Chester defender in a recent scrimmage. The season's first games are next week. (Herald / Joyce Hunt)

By Laurie-Jean B. Gauthier

The Whitcomb Hornet boys basketball team has some familiar faces returning and a couple of old faces rejoining the varsity program as well as a few new faces, including first year coach Bob Cushman.

Although they only suit up ten players, their attitude and effort has Cushman pleased. "The boys have been running. I’ve been working the kids as hard at practice as they have been working me. They are actually probably the fastest team I have ever coached." Cushman feels that the team is filled with "raw talent" and great speed, but lacks some basic knowledge of the game, making it detrimental for them. He feels "the ability is there" but the lack of experience is what works against them.

A man-to-man defense will be a staple for the Hornets, and a new offense will be implemented. Coach Cushman’s major hope is that the boys will run and execute the plays by communicating with each other and following through with good choices and lots of baskets—an all out team effort.

Suiting up are freshmen Dan Noel and Matt Prucha and sophomore Joel Wright. Juniors on the team are Ben Cayer, Damien Russo and foreign exchange student Clemens Garve, who has never played before. Cushman says, "Clemens is very fast, but tends to travel with the ball, so, I need to get him to ‘plant his feet’." Last but by no means least, are seniors Tyler Killian, Jacob Hunt, Deven Hill and Matt Durfee. June Claughton and Hannah Theoren are the managers, and former Hornet and Whitcomb graduate, Scott Killian, will be the official scorekeeper. Let’s hope last year’s 1-19 season will be a 19-1 season for the Hornets.

The Hornets’ season opener is this Friday evening, against the Rochester Rockets, in the annual Stub Stearns Bean Pot Classic in Rochester. Returning to their "roots," both teams will be playing in their home courts from now on, after many years on the road to either Vermont Technical College or Randolph Union High School. That being the case, "the early bird gets the worm" or "the early fan doesn’t have to stand" in what is most likely to be an "SRO" basketball game. Hope to see you there!

Whitcomb hosts the South Royalton Royals on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.