Pride sets up their defense against the Broughton team during the game on Tuesday night. They lost this game to the Broughton Caps 73-55.

The Leesville Pride men’s basketball team fought a hard but losing battle against the Broughton Caps on Jan. 24.

The team’s record this season is 7-9. They are tied for fourth place in the conference.

The two teams handed off the lead in the first three quarters, keeping the game close. In the fourth quarter, however, Broughton gained the lead to win the game. The Pride team pushed themselves hard throughout this game, ending with a score of 73-55.

“This game set a mark for us,” says Coach Brewington. “ From here we just need to work hard, practice, and improve.”

This was a tough game for the team. They had previously lost to Broughton, but entered the game with high hopes. The starting line-up for this game included Michael Adams, senior and shooting guard, and Shyheid Petteway, small forward.

During the game, Petteway, was passed the ball and performed an amazing dunk. It was the most exciting moment of the game for the Leesville team.

“That dunk felt great to me,” said Petteway. “Honestly I felt like a new man after that.”

Unfortunately, the dunk was called as an offensive foul and led to the other team taking two foul shots, but it still had the crowd going wild.

Both players had some input on how the team did Tuesday night. “I felt like we did really well in the first three quarters,” said Petteway. “It was the third quarter where we all let ourselves down.”

Shyheid says that the team needs to rebound more.

Michael Adams, one of the few seniors on the team, is optimistic about the loss. “Even though we did lose, we still have playoffs and the rest of our seasonal games. We’ll bounce back,” he said. He praised the fact that the team played together but said that they need to work on execution of some specific plays.

“It’s taken us a while to mold together as a team,” commented Brewington. “Now that we have, we’re doing a lot better. We could make a late season push and finish strong in the playoffs.”

Alex Woods snatches a rebound away for the team. Even with strong plays like this, the team couldn’t finish the game.

On December 13, Leesville Road’s women’s varsity basketball team hosted Broughton, only to fall short, 55-33. Although not reflected in their 0-5 record, players claim this year’s team has much potential. This year’s team has much potential for the remainder of the season.

The Lady Pride shocked the Caps when they started strong and gained the lead. By the end of the first half, the Pride were down by a mere 5 points.

In the middle of the third, the Pride was down 28-34 when Coach Jarita Crump called a time out in hopes to turn things around.  However, Broughton went on an 8 point run, putting a victory out of reach.

Claire Collins, sophomore, said, “We turned the ball over too much, and our heads were out of the game.”

The Lady Pride is learning from their mistakes from Tuesday’s game. They worked on specific struggles in practice to reduce future errors. “We worked on ball handling to break a press and taking a charge, to eliminate fouls,” said Alex Woods, senior.

“We need to do a better job of taking care of the ball in the second half and feed off of the intensity from the first,” said Ms. Mundell, assistant coach.

As for goals for this season, the team expects to “translate improvements into wins,” said Mundell. The Pride anticipates a change in their record and successful season to come.

The Loonies lacrosse team fights for the ball at the face-off of their first game against Top Tier Lax Blue. Leesville went on to lose their first game and win two of five matches.

This Saturday, on December 10, several members of the lacrosse team will enroll in a one-day lacrosse tournament. Under the name of the Loonies, the team will gear up for a preseason rally to test their skills against the local competition.

The showcase, hosted by the University of North Carolina, includes a total of 40 varsity and junior varsity teams. Each team is limited to 7 players at a time on the field but may bring more for substitution purposes.

Jeremy Fullbright, adult supervisor, intends to bring 17 students to the fields. Most of them will be experienced players from last year’s club team.

The Loonies will face off against the Top Tier Lax Blue squad bright and early at 8:50 a.m. Closely following their first match, the team will take on Ravenscroft, Cardinal Gibbons, Heritage and Falcons Lax Green throughout the day.

All games will be held at UNC’s Finley Fields in Chapel Hill. Each match will have two relatively short 20 minute halves.

“We [the Loonies] are looking at a difficult schedule with teams like Ravenscroft and Cardinal Gibbons in our way,” said Peter Marino, sophomore. “It’s gonna be a fast-paced and very intense series of games. I hope that we are conditioned for it, but if not we can always adjust to the style of play.”

To prepare for the tournament, Fullbright has taken several measures to condition his team. Fullbright has led several preseason workouts that focus on explosiveness, mobility and other key factors needed before the season commences February 13.

“We have worked hard for the past few weeks to prepare for not only the tournament, but the season as well,” said Fullbright. “We are working out the kinks now before it all comes together in time for the season.”

The Leesville team huddles up during a time out. They were able to win despite struggling at times with Enloe’s fast paced offense.

On December 8, the Leesville JV men’s basketball team beat Enloe, 71-62.

The game started off sloppily, with turnovers and missed free throws by both teams. Enloe played an up-tempo style that tested the Leesville athleticism on defense all night. By halftime, Leesville had compiled a seven point lead highlighted by a last second three. A 10-4 foul differential contributed to this, much to the chagrin of the Enloe fans.

In the second half, the fouls evened out, but Leesville pulled away early. Enloe clawed back within six, but a huge momentum swinging “and-one” ended the comeback. A Pride run mid-way through the fourth quarter gave Leesville a 60-49 advantage, putting the game out of Enloe’s reach. An emphatic blocked shot by Michael Hopkins late sealed a Leesville win against Enloe for the first time in six years.

“I thought the turning point of the game was when we went on a run at the beginning of the fourth,” said Michael Hopkins, sophomore.

“We executed on offense well. We were getting open shots all night,” said Hopkins.

Despite the win, Hopkins felt the team could still improve their defensive effort. “The defense was slack at best,” said Hopkins.

By building off this win, the Pride can look to improve and continue to succeed as the season moves on.

Braxton Berrios sidesteps a Garner defender in Leesville Road's last game of the season. Photo courtesy of newsobserver.com

“After everything we’ve been through, all the challenges and adversity we faced, I’m so proud of our guys. We had an unbelievable season, coaches as well as players. I couldn’t have asked for any more,” said Chad Smothers, head coach.

An undefeated season. A regional semi-final berth. Record-setting success for a first year head coach. Redemption for an injured senior. Opportunity for his younger brother. Everything was on the line for Leesville Road, who traveled on the road to Garner on Friday, November 18 for the third round of NCHSAA 4-A State Playoffs.

The Pride, with an undefeated record of 12-0, went into Garner with the hopes of knocking off the number one-seeded Trojans, standing tall at 13-0.

Braxton Berrios, sophomore, said, “We knew going in that they were a good football team, but that didn’t affect our preparations. We followed our routine, watching tape and working everyday to improve at practice.”

With thousands of loyal Loonies cheering from the stands, Leesville took the opening kickoff and returned the ball to just short of the fifty yard line. However, after two unsuccessful running plays on first and second down, the Pride were facing third and long, a situation they had so far this season been unfamiliar with.

But no matter. Taking the snap, Braxton Berrios rolled to his right and threw deep down the sideline for De’Rahjai Robinson. A spectacular catch and several broken tackles later, Robinson strolled into the end zone for the early 7-0 Leesville lead.

The stadium erupted. Leesville Loonies of all ages, races and sizes, decked out in kelly green, roared in celebration as the Garner “Blue Crew”, sitting directly across the field, were silent and motionless; they were stunned.

Then, on Garner’s first offensive possession, the Trojans went three-and-out, punting the ball to Leesville Road, who recovered near their own twenty. But a DJ Hunt fumble gave new life to Garner, who punched the ball in from yards out to tie the game at 7-7.

A second Hunt fumble on the Pride’s next drive gave Garner another scoring opportunity, which the Trojans took advantage of, putting themselves up 14-7. For the remainder of the game, the Pride were never able to regain the lead.

Late in the second quarter, Leesville Road was still down 14-7, only now they had a chance to tie the game and swing the momentum. Deciding to go for goal on a fourth down play, Braxton Berrios found Malcom Hitchcock on a crossing pattern for the tying score. Or so it appeared.

A personal foul on the play, an illegal substitution infraction, not only negated the touchdown, but turned the ball over for the third time in the first half. Watching from the sidelines, Austin Berrios, senior, saw how those three giveaways were devastating for the Pride.

Said Austin, “We had been playing relatively well up to that point, aside from the two fumbles, but it seemed like we were finding ways to lose the game. You can’t be sloppy with the ball because against a good team like Garner, penalties and turnovers will kill you.”

Going into the second half down by two touchdowns, Coach Smothers knew the key to a Leesville comeback would be focusing on the two things he had preached to his team all season: strong defense and ball security.

“You have to take care of the ball if you want to win football games, and that’s what we needed to focus on.”

Coming out of the locker room to start the third quarter, Garner drove down the field and passed for another touchdown, giving the Trojans an insurmountable 28-7 lead over the Pride.

Two more turnovers in the second half, including a Braxton Berrios fumble inside the Garner ten-yard line, marked the end of the road for the Pride, as well as the end of the most successful season in school history.

Triggiano, while upset with the outcome of the game, acknowledged all that Leesville Road had accomplished over the course of the season.

“We won the Cap-8. We won twelve games and went undefeated in the regular season. We set scoring records at this school that may never be broken,” said Triggiano. “It may sound cliche, but I don’t regret anything. Even after losing, we still gave it our all and played with heart. This is a special team, and I’m lucky to have been a part of it.”

Cami Burns, senior, at a gym practicing. This is her fourth year participating in gymnastics at Leesville, and she also teaches gymnastics.

Wednesday, November 2 marked the first official practice of the year for the LRHS gymnastics team. The girls gathered at Gym Carolina, a gym conveniently located off of Leesville Road.

The girls pose for a picture after their win against Wakefield. The team placed 19th in the state.

At this time last year, Pride Varsity Volleyball would’ve been done with their seasons for about two weeks. This year, though, the team made it into the top 16 of the state–something they haven’t seen since 1997.

The team reflects on their final game and their season on the whole as the sun sets behind the field.

With a 4-2 loss to Jordan High on Nov. 4, the 2011 Leesville Road varsity men’s soccer season came to an unfortunate end. The Pride, under Paul Dinkenor, fell to the number two seeded Jordan in the second round of the NCHSAA 4-A State Playoffs, but still finished the season with an impressive 16-5-2 record.

Try outs for girls basketball also include drills and fundamentals. With two new coaches, the team is excited for the season to begin.

This year, two new coaches have taken charge of the varsity and junior varsity teams: Coach Crump for varsity, and Coach Warren for junior varsity. Coach Mundell is the assistant coach for junior varsity.

According to Alex Woods, there were fewer people trying out this year compared to past years.

“There were only about 8 people at JV tryouts,” said Jamie Durham, freshman. “But even though we had a small number of people, the coaches had very high expectations of us. There were times when I wanted to give up, but I didn’t. I improved every day I was there, and my teammates helped me through constructive criticism. I love my teammates; they’re very helpful.”

Tryouts consisted of sprints, defensive work, stretching, drills, ball handling and scrimmaging.

Alyssa Codispoti discussed how the new coaches handled tryouts. “Last year [the coaches] did different things every day,” said Codispoti. “This year we did the same thing everyday, so the coaches could watch for improvement.”

“I think we’re going to improve a lot this year because we’ve already improved at tryouts,” said Woods. “I know that since we have different coaches, the offense and defense this year will be different. It’ll be interesting to see how the offense matches up with other players in the Cap-8.”

“My expectations for this year are to strengthen our program by being competitive with other schools, for the girls to have fun, build their self-confidence and to bring Leesville basketball back to the level it was ten years ago when I played,” said Mundell.

Cami Burns, senior, works hard at gymnastics practice.

Wednesday, November 2 marked the first official practice of the year for the LRHS gymnastics team. The girls gathered at Gym Carolina, a gym conveniently located off of Leesville Road.