With basketball season looming, the Creek Wood Red Hawks have been hard at work on the court this week. Their effort so far hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“The effort’s been really good,” said Creek Wood coach Charles Taylor.
“We’ve put in some new wrinkles defensively that we’ve never done before, so there’s a certain learning curve there. We’ve spent the majority of the week working on the different defenses that we’re running.”
Here’s a couple of things you can for the Red Hawks this year.
Big loss in Ross. The Red Hawks lose their most talented player in Ross Cummings, who has graduated and currently gearing up to play hoops at Mercer. However, they do return Devon Higgins and Garrett Dolinich, as well as Aaron Daniel.
“Dolinich will be one of our guys inside,” said Taylor.
“(Higgins) will be playing a lot for us as soon as he gets healthy. Aaron Daniel is another senior who came off the bench. Those guys have been with the program for all four years.”
Looking for the district double: Last year, Creek Wood cruised to the District 11-2A title with an unblemished 16-0 record. A repeat of last year’s success would be ideal for the Red Hawks.
“Our goal is always defend our home floor,” said Taylor.
We want to start our district record at home good, District is going to be more wide open this year. If we can protect our home and maybe get a few on the road, then maybe we can sneak into one of those top spots.”
How far can they go? Creek Wood’s season ended with a tough 52-49 loss to Cascade in Region 6-AA tournament. The Red Hawks will be looking to improve on that mark and maybe go a bit further.
The Red Hawks will travel to Dickson County for a scrimmage Nov. 7. They’ll travel to Upperman Nov. 15 for their first game of the regular season.
Reach Andy Simmons on Twitter @AndyDHTN
Creek Wood’s Devon Higgins returns for the Red Hawks and will be one of their key players going into the season.