The Press-Dispatch
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D-8 Winter Sports Preview Wednesday, November 24, 2021 The Press-Dispatch 812-354-9046 9th and Sycamore, Petersburg fishhutpizza.com OPEN: Mon.-Sat., 11am-9pm Closed Sunday PC WINS WITH In any sport, Four Star Fabricators encourages all Pike Central athletes to work hard, play tough and win in life. Serving the Aluminum, Coal and Power Industries with Quality Steel Fabrication Ph: 812-354-9995 F: 812-354-3809 Four Star Fabricators P.O. Box 67, Petersburg, IN 47567 www.fourstarfab.com Good Luck This season! ten a lot stronger, accord- ing to Coach Elliott. "He's one of the best shooters in Southern In- diana. I think he's very skilled, he's got a lot of confidence right now, and I think he's really ready to have a big year here for us." Charger Peyton How- ald, 6'3", will be playing forward this year for the boys' varsity team. This will be his third year play- ing on the varsity team, and he was one of the team captains last year. Coach Elliot said that he can score it a little bit, defend, rebound and just a little bit of everything. He was one of the team's engines last year and has just grown as a leader each year. Peyton's twin broth- er, junior Braden How- ald, will be playing on the team this year as well. He stands at 5'11", and is the heart and soul of the team. "He plays so hard, such a competitor and he's come a long way. He had a great football season, anybody that watched him play out there, as hard and intense as he played, he's gonna apply and bring that same attitude to the bas- ketball court. Defensive- ly, he's gonna be tasked with guarding that team's best guard most nights and he's more than capa- ble. He's really worked on his basketball skills, and his shooting and blocking has improved quite a bit," commented Coach Elliot. Junior Jager Dent will be splitting, playing on both the varsity and JV teams this year. Dent stands at 5'10" and plays very phys- ical on the inside. He is a hard-nosed kid and shoots the ball really well and can really do some things, ac- cording to Coach Elliott. Charger sophomore Ju- lian Gish, 6'1", will be on the varsity team as well this year. He started every game for the Chargers last year, and was their second leading scorer. "He would have broken the season steals record if he would have been free to play the whole season. All kinds of potential, very good scorer, good shooter, gifted athletically and de- fensively, and gets to the passing lane really well. I expect him to have anoth- er big year," stated Coach Elliott. Quade Morton, Char- ger sophomore, standing at 5'11", will play on var- sity as a guard this year. He is the team's lefty and one that plays travel team through the summer. Ac- cording to Coach Elliott, he is on another level as far as his quickness and explosiveness, and can re- ally shoot the basketball, along with being able to do everything athletically. Elliott believes he is going to be one of the surprises in the whole southern In- diana area and is going to have a really good year. Charger sophomore Chase Ridao, 5'9", will play guard for the boys' varsity basketball team this year. Coach Elliott said, "He is hard-nosed, really smart, shoots it well, handles it well and he plays defense. So that's the three things that you're always going to play when you can do that. He's looked really good these first couple of days of practice, just what he's able to do and the plays he's able to make, so he's another one that I think is gonna really have a good year for us." The team will also have sophomore Zane Gehlhau- sen playing on the varsity team this year. Gehlhau- sen stands at 5'9" and will play guard for the team. Freshmen on the junior varsity team this year are Albert Whitehead, Drew Dawson, Matthew Mead- ows and Brenton Fryrear, making up a small por- tion of the 17 total fresh- men players. "It's a big group. They're a group that has had some success in middle school, but struggled at times as well. There's definitely a lot of pieces, but they need some work. They all kind of bring a lot of different things to the table. One does this really well and one shoots really well, one plays defense really well, so kind of teaching them the whole game. So they definitely have a lot of po- tential and a lot of room to grow," commented Coach Elliott. He stated, "I think all of us have really high goals and expectations for this group. I think last year, we kind of tasted it at times. We've put ourselves in a good situation to win games, but then we might throw it away or some- thing, and some of that is age and experience. We had a really good sum- mer, the kids got a lot bet- ter and we got a lot of wins. That's something I said going into summer, like we're going to win. That's a big thing is our mindset that we are good enough. We were gonna go win in- stead of we hope to win, we expect to win. And I think we have a good mindset right now, they feel good about it and are very confident. I think still we're gonna have to go get some of that success ear- ly on. I think they're real- ly gonna start really be- lieving that we're the re- al deal." "So I think we have high expectations. I think there's no reason that we should be under 500. I know it's a big jump, but it is something that we are fully capable of. So, of course, come the end of the year, we'd love to be in the race for that confer- ence sectional. So we just got to kind of play and see how we go." MKT-5894-A-A1 edwardjones.com Schedule your retirement review today. Shane Minton Financial Advisor 100 S Hull Street Ft Branch, IN 47648 812-753-3893 Member SIPC Senior c o r n e r MINDSET Continued from page 2 We definitely have more players this year. It's kind of a weird situation, especially when you have younger kids playing up more and freshmen starting varsity, kind of throws off the balance and everything. So they keep getting better." – Coach Hunter Elliott Alex Clark Mallory Hunt Kya Sullivan Hailey Parker Emily Delobel Jon Cannon Sarah Fenwick Morgan Salle Maddi Riley Emma Mckinney PUZZLED ABOUT WHAT TO READ? ..and you will have your solution. subscribe to 812-354-8500