Antelope HS: Turnaround Season
Last place, 6-22 overall, 0-12 in the league and ending the season on an eleven game losing streak. This was the outcome for the Titans during the 2018-2019 season. I’m sure after looking back at last year’s season for Antelope,…
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Continue ReadingLast place, 6-22 overall, 0-12 in the league and ending the season on an eleven game losing streak. This was the outcome for the Titans during the 2018-2019 season.
I’m sure after looking back at last year’s season for Antelope, many would’ve counted them out. This season, many have been proven wrong and everyone is aware that the Titans can play. The Titans, second in the Captial Valley Conference, have made many improvements to qualify for the CIF SJS playoffs this season. Antelope is currently 9-3 in the league while holding an impressive 19-9 overall record, currently on a four-game win streak. The Titans look to continue this astonishing season deep into the playoffs.
Everyone’s probably wondering how Antelope has improved astronomically this season. “I really wanted to put more of a family feel to the team, really get the players to become closer together, and build relationships with each other”, said head coach Mike Dresser. That trust and chemistry have been put on display from the entire Titans group all season as they have executed everything properly on both ends of the court. This closed-knit group has been playing for one another all season long and look to continue as they go head to head against a versatile Grant team during the first round of the playoffs.
The Titans have bought in completely to Coach Dresser and his vision, doing a lot of the little things that have helped guide them to success this year. “This is a really great group of kids, they all work really hard, and they always came back asking for more”, said coach Dresser. Antelope has put in a lot of hard work during the offseason and it is starting to pay off. “They have been paying phenomenal as a team. We play really unselfish basketball, it’s not only guy looking to get his points, and everyone is bought into the aspect that it’s more important that we are playing our best as a team”.
This team will have guys who fill up the stat sheet. They all understand their role on the team and do anything to help the team win games. The Titans have been playing a much faster pace than they have had in previous years, looking to push the ball in transition and get as many easy buckets as possible. You will always see the Titans running constantly throughout the game seeking to exploit the opposing team’s defense and mismatches. “Our first game of the season, everything came together perfectly and we have continued to build off that”, said coach Dresser.
There still have been bumps on the road throughout this season. Adversity came about for the Titans, but it is nothing new to them. They’ve used it as motivation to improve and it has spoke dividend to there determination to become better as a team.
Although they have all stepped up as a group, the Titans have players who are “peaking at the right moment, senior captain Jaden Henderson, junior Kevin Burlaka, sophomores Anthony Sierras and Majer Sullivan have all exploded for Antelope towards the end of the season”, coach Dresser stated.
The senior, Henderson, has stepped up into a big leadership role, both on and off the court for the Titans. Henderson leads the team with 13 points per game to go along with 2.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and getting it done on the defensive end with 1.2 steals per game.
A player who has been playing beyond his years and has been a big go-to-guy for the Titans, sophomore, Anthony Sierras. The 6’2 guard has been playing exceptionally averaging 12.5 points per game, 2.2 assists, 2.2 steals and grabbing 6.6 rebounds a game.
“All our kids are very coachable”, said coach Dresser. It is a complete team effort as the commitment and loyalty continue to grow for many years to come. Coach Dresser and his Titans look to adapt to any team they face for the remainder of the season in hopes of making it to the Golden 1 Center.