Knights Open 2022-23 Basketball Season at Home

By Shirley Shuman
Opening at home against South Harrison, this year’s Braxton County Middle School team numbers 23 players, including 12 varsity, and a first-year coach. Drew Taylor, the Knights’ new head coach, has looked forward to the first game since practice began.
Taylor will be working with one eighth-grader and 11 seventh-graders on his varsity squad. This year’s team, he noted, has definite strengths which he plans to use for a successful season. “Our players are in excellent condition,” the coach said. “They’re coming off fall sports so they already have pretty strong conditioning.” In addition, Coach Taylor sees as a major strength of his squad “the ability to score in transition.” He continued to note that his players “will be running fast breaks and setting up a press.”
“We have the speed for fast breaks,” the coach explained, “and the determination it takes to press successfully. This team will be taking more of a running approach to play to its strength because we lack height. We’re very guard-oriented so we’ll also be putting up more shots. Fans will see more three-point shooting this year, too.”
Eighth-grader Brady Toler is the only returning varsity starter on a squad made up of 11 eighth-graders and one seventh-grader. Coach Taylor’s starting lineup includes Toler, Landon Hart, Ryan Stalnaker, Braeden Godfrey—all eighth-graders, and Ashton Stewart, the lone seventh grader on the varsity team.
The remaining members of the varsity team include Deklan Meadows, Jack Lowther, Remington Huffman, Eli McCallister, Aiden Pritt, Gavin Dean, and Trevar Edgerton.
Tonight the Knights host Webster.