Learning and Growing and Winning

Coach Amanda Scott was ecstatic last Tuesday night after the final point fell and her Banks Trail 8th grade volleyball team walked away with 2-1 win over Clover MS. Amidst the celebrating, she seemed more relieved than anything.

Coach Scott gets with her team during a time-out

A few minutes later, she was pushing a cart full of folding chairs toward the storage room with a big smile on her face. As she passed me, she confided that the win was her first over any Clover team she has coached against, and it felt GOOD! She's been a volleyball coach at Banks Trail since the school opened four years ago, and this was the first time one of her teams was able to beat the Blue Eagles. So that got me thinking about this 8th grade team's season so far, and last year, when Scott coached them as 7th graders.

Annika Ford hits a return shot
during the Clover match.

Last year this group struggled and managed only two wins on the season. Fast forward to this year, and the season started out in much the same way. Essentially the same team, with the addition of Courtney Smith and Annika Ford, it started the season 0-3. Smith spent last Fall as a member of the BTMS cheerleading squad and Ford moved into the district last year, too late for volleyball season, but in time to make a big impact on the 7th grade girls basketball team. They played inconsistently, sometimes completely out of sync and at other times working well together, but just falling a bit short. But in the fourth match of the season against Fort Mill MS, it came together for them and they pulled out the first win of the season. They're currently on a four-match winning streak, started that night against Fort Mill, and have beaten Gold Hill and avenged earlier losses to Clover and Oakridge. Despite the memory of a bad season, and the adversity of a slow start this year, Coach Scott has kept her team focused on improving the fundamentals and building teamwork. And now they have started to be successful on the court. It's a great lesson for these young athletes as they are learning the ideals of perseverance, overcoming adversity and commitment to the team. And these ideals are paying off for Coach Scott, as well.

BTMS Cheerleaders with the Timberwolf mascot.

Speaking of commitment to the team, how about a shout out to the Banks Trail cheerleading squad? Coaches Amy Adldoost and Faye Tucker have had the girls working hard since August, getting them ready for this Fall season. And rain or shine, you'll find them on the sideline of the Timberwolves' home football games, cheering on the team. I was at the 7th grade game against Clover on a recent rainy Wednesday, and the cheerleaders were there too, standing in the mud, getting rained on and happily cheering on the team to its first win of the season. So thank you ladies for supporting the teams and your commitment not only to the teams you cheer for, but to your own skills as well.

7th graders Makenna Biehl (23) and
Julianna Crane go up to block a shot

This past weekend Coach Cori Hustedt's 7th grade team participated in the Bearcat Invitational volleyball tournament at Castle Heights MS in Rock Hill.  They took the silver medal while Fort Mill MS was the overall champion. Banks Trail's only regular season loss so far this season was to Fort Mill back on Sept. 23. So the rematch is set up for this coming Thursday, Oct. 9, at Fort Mill MS. Each team has one match loss, so wins on Tuesday for each will bring them to Thursday in position to claim the division lead with one to play after that. On the 8th grade side, the aforementioned four-match winning streak has moved them into second place in the division, 2-games behind Springfield. So it's a long shot for 8th graders to pull out a division title, but stranger things have happened. So let's get out to the Banks Trail gym on Tuesday night to cheer on these two teams to their best possible finishes.

On the football field last week, the 8th grade team remained undefeated with a 48-6 destruction of Oakridge MS at Banks Trail Stadium. I was so excited for this game because my son, my pride and joy, MY boy! (RJ Upton)  had been tapped to be the starting running back for this game. If you knew his history as a football player, and as an athlete in general, during his elementary school years back in Pennsylvania, you would know why I was so proud. He was not, to put it mildly, a particularly gifted player as a 3rd-6th grader. He was fairly slow afoot, not really aggressive, not particularly fond of contact. He was really just happy to be on the team. It was social hour for him. But he's gone through a pretty dramatic physical transformation since the Fall of 2012 and has been developing into a good defensive player. Last Spring he started playing lacrosse which really helped his foot speed and coordination. So this football season he has been on the depth chart as a 2nd or 3rd running back with Alex Cooper and Josh Kenyon. With Alex continuing to nurse an infected wound on his knee and Josh recovering from an illness, RJ got the start. Woo Hoo! Man, I couldn't wait to get that photo of him running with the ball, scoring a TD, running over defenders. This is what I got:
One not-quite in focus shot of him getting stuffed by two defenders as soon as he took the first hand-off. And that was it. That was the first offensive play of the game; the next play was an end-around run by Hunter Waldrop that didn't go anywhere and then the aerial assault began. Literally every offensive play after that was a pass play, usually for a big gain or a touchdown, as Oakridge had no answer for our passing game. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes. He did have a good game on the defensive side, as did the entire Timberwolves defense. If he gets another opportunity, I'll be more prepared for what may be his only touch of the game. Of course, Coach Edwards and his crew had the right game plan and it worked out nearly perfectly. Looking ahead, the 8th graders are at Fort Mill MS this week, then double-headers with the 7th grade team at Springfield MS and finally with Gold Hill MS at Fort Mill High's Bob Jones Stadium.

8th grader Josh Cloud hauls in a pass for a long
TD play in the first quarter

The 7th grade team traveled to Oakridge last week and escaped with 36-34 win. Banks Trail defensive back Dustin Noller intercepted a pass at the end of the game to stop an Oakridge drive and seal the victory for the Timberwolves. The win brings their record to 2-3 as they head into the heart of the divisional schedule.

Finally last week, I went out to Clover on Thursday night to cover the Clover-Fort Mill HS football game for the Fort Mill Times at Clover Memorial Stadium. The game was moved up to Thursday to avoid the predicted rain deluge on Friday, which never came.  As with the middle school teams, Clover's high school team employs the run-heavy Wing-T offense. And it's not just that it's mostly running plays; it's that it's almost entirely running plays STRAIGHT UP THE MIDDLE! B-to-the-O-to-the-RING!!! Well, maybe not entirely boring, but certainly un-photogenic. Here's a typical image from about 90% of Clover's offensive plays:

A typical Clover offensive running play; much like a rugby scrum.

Somewhere in that scrum is the guy with ball. They played good defense, too, which kept the YellowJackets offense in check for most of the game. Fort Mill was able to break through for two scores in the second half, while giving up lots of yards on defense. Playing bend-but-don't-break defense, the YellowJackets kept the Blue Eagles out the end zone until the fourth quarter. Fort Mill spoiled Clover's Homecoming night by winning the game, 14-7. Not pretty, but a 'W' nonetheless.

I've been concentrating on the football and volleyball teams so far, but I know there are some Banks Trail athletes out there competing at the high schools in cross country and maybe golf and tennis (not sure about those). If you're reading this and you know of any Banks Trail students participating on any of these HS teams, please drop me a line. I think I'm going to head out to the NaFo-Fort Mill cross country meet on Tuesday to try to catch some of them in action.

That's all for now. See ya on the sidelines!