After a 13-1 winning season, the varsity boys basketball team begins play in the regional tournament at Darlington this Friday, February 14. Friday’s game is a match-up against Excel Christian Academy and Coach Tyrone Johnson expects an exciting series of upcoming games.
“The competition for Region 6 tournament will be extremely intense,” said Johnson, “Four of the teams in the tournament are rated top 10 in the power ranking: Whitefield (1), North Cobb Christian (2), Trion (4), and St Francis (7). At this point, there isn’t a clear cut favorite. While St Francis and NCCS have proven to be formidable opponents during the regular season, Trion is the number one seed in Region 6 West division. It should be a great tournament with several intriguing matchups.”
The WolfPack team is ultimately aiming for its fourth state championship, and has been preparing for the regional tournament since the start.
“Because of the philosophy of our program, we began preparing for the regional tournament at the beginning of the season,” Johnson said. “We have used several detailed scouting sessions of some of the teams in the region and formatted our practices to strategically prepare for possible matchups in the tournament. Since we anticipated that we could possibly play at least two of our regional opponents three or more times throughout this season, we specifically modified several of our sets on both sides of the ball to give us a better chance of competing.“
Delayed from its initial start on Thursday because of the recent ice, the region tournament will run on Friday, Saturday, and Monday. Coach Johnson says the team is focused and ready to play.
“At this point of the season, I would say that our strengths going in the tournament are in the following areas: leadership, coaching staff, and execution. From a leadership standpoint, my seniors have taken ownership of the team’s direction. Specifically, Eric and Berto’s playoff experience from previous years will really serve us well,” said Johnson.
“I am also particularly impressed with the instructional knowledge, experience, and creativity of my assistant coaches. For the most part, the majority our staff has been in place for several years. The fact that we all singular in our mindset, in terms of serving the players and maximizing our potential as a team, is a huge strength at this time of the year,” added Johnson. “Lastly, I have been impressed as of late with the team’s ability to execute in the half court set. While we very much enjoy the opportunity of getting out in open court to run in transition, the design and purpose of our half court sets really give us a chance to compete at a high level in the playoff.”
Coach Johnson hopes to add another state championship to Whitefield’s already stellar record, having won state in 2003, 2009, and 2012. The team was state runner-up in 2004, 2006, and 2010 and secured the regional championship six times.