CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Three weeks into the first half of the high school basketball season, there have been a few battles among city opponents. This week will feature several more, including the Northeast Eagles hosting the Northwest Vikings on Tuesday night.
Gaining experience
Many teams in this area are going through youth movements, having to replace large groups of senior classes. This is the case for both the Vikings and Eagles.
“One of the things we are struggling with now is, who is that guy that is going to have the ball in his hands and be the point guard that is going to be that floor general that will get us into our offensive set?” said Northwest coach Aaron Wallus about his young team.
Wallus and the Vikings are having to replace one of the top playmakers from the area, Ametri Moss, who graduated last year and is now playing at State College of Florida. Moss is averaging 9.2 points per game in 12 games this season for the Manatees.
Northeast is in a similar situation, having graduated several of their starters from last year’s district champions team.
“We are predominantly sophomores and juniors,” Northeast coach Sam Young said. “We only have three seniors, and one senior was my seventh or eighth man off the bench last year, so when I say we’ve lost all our scoring, we’ve really lost over 95% of our scoring from last year.”
Head to head
Both teams prepared a schedule that would get them ready for district play when it begins in January, but also wanted to make sure they got a chance to meet some of the local opponents as well. All teams in the city like to have bragging rights over their fellow local opponents.
“It’s good for us to play another team in the city that has that tradition of toughness,” said Wallus. “We want to get our guys to buy into that (tradition).”
The Vikings will travel to Northeast to face the Eagles on Tuesday.