by Canaan Freeman | Sports Writer
The varsity boys basketball team has officially started their pre season practice and start their road to the playoffs. They ended last season with a loss in the playoffs against Judson. That was the first year in school history that the Jags had earned a playoff spot. Coming off the best season in Johnson school history, they look to back it up with another outstanding season.
“It’s really exciting to be on varsity for the first year and I want to provide for the team whatever way possible,” junior Jason Louwagie said
Last year the Jags opened against Wagner and fought hard but came up short. They also had an all time high 7-5 record in district play. It’s always a hard fought contest with extremely tough district play such as Reagan and Churchill. In district, the Jags will play every team twice along with tournament play.
“Our goal this year is to make the playoffs, we are going to have to get a lot of workouts in as well as execute the way were capable of,” Coach Jay Keller said.
The Jags will need to play to their full ability in order to contend in the district and keep their season going through the playoffs. Although they lost many key seniors they have been able to replace them with upcoming role players. Expectations will be very high and the pressure will be on them to make it to the post season.
“The pressure is high especially since I’ve never played on varsity before, we all know were going to have to put in the hard work in order to make it a successful season,” Louwagie said.
The Lady Jags opened their season against John Jay and pulled out a close one 49-44. The leading scorers for the game were Recee Caldwell and Erika Sanders both putting up a solid thirteen points.
“I feel like we started pretty well, I think we could have played better, but we will only get better from here,” junior Recee Caldwell said.
Coming off a solid year last year, the Jags look to improve and try to contend in district.
“I think we have as good of a chance as anyone does this year in district and we know its going to take a lot of hard work to get there,” Caldwell said
