Sports
Alexander Spartans Crush Federal Hocking Lancers In Season Debut
By: Clark Wicks
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After turning the ball over a whopping 23 times, the Federal Hocking Lancers started their 2016 season with a 56-12 loss to a taller, tougher Alexander Spartans team.
Although both teams are young and lack varsity experience, the Spartans proved to be the much more dominant team, especially in the paint. Senior Chace Harris showed that he was the leader his untested team needed as he single handedly outscored the Lancers, dropping 14 points.
While both teams have a lot to prove this season, the Spartans showed that they mean business as they came out and dominated the Lancers in the paint. Of the Spartans 56 points, 36 came inside the paint where the much shorter Lancer team failed to slow down the Alexander offense.
“We push the ball down, our first look is always in the paint,” Alexander head coach Jim Kerns said. “ When we got inside our post guys had an advantage in both strength and size, there was no need to bring it back out, once we got in we went to work on the glass.”
Coming in to this season the Lancers knew they would have trouble on the offensive side of the ball. The departure of last years leading scorer, A.J. Cobb, translated into countless ill-advised shots from a Federal Hocking offense that made just five of their 25 field goal attempts.
However, the biggest problem for Federal Hocking Friday night was their inability to grab rebounds on both sides of the ball. While it may sound blunt, Federal Hocking just wasn’t as tall as Alexander and you can’t coach height. If they want to relieve these rebounding woes in the future, they will need to be more physical in the paint and establish some sort of defensive presence.
“We just have to rebound, I would say a lot of those 36 points came off of second or third chances, that’s probably the main focus going forward” Federal Hocking head coach Josh Vernon said.
The Lancers will look to bounce back on the road in their next game against Zane Trace on Saturday night.