November 26, 2008

DeStefano Will Mix-and-Match to Improve on Blazers' Season

Last year, the Blair Blazers' football team had a dreadful record of 0-10. This year, they finished with a respectable 5-5. Last year, the Blazers' boy's basketball team finished at 5-17. This year, they hope for similar improvement.

In coach Mark DeStefano's third year in charge of Blair Basketball, the team looks to turn around from a disappointing season last year. Seniors Mike McClain and Leon Sampson, standing at a towering 6'5" and 6'7", are the team's only two returning starters, but DeStefano is looking to put out the best grouping of players to help the team win.

"After [McClain and Sampson] it becomes kind of a mixed bag," DeStefano said. "That's what we're trying to figure out, the best combination that we can put out there. Eddie Kolleh and Wayne Henderson are both seniors who have been playing very well, they had great summers. We've got a couple of sophomores in the mix, Josh Kickenson and Ethan Brown. Cameron Reed, who's a junior, had a great scrimmage on Saturday, and Trey Moses, who's another junior, had a great scrimmage on Saturday. There's a lot of possibilities we have in terms of combinations."

DeStefano also stated that he wants the team not to get too lackadaisical on the offensive end and wants them to play strong defense.

"We want to move the ball and try to play with a sense of urgency on the offensive end, sometimes we tend to get a little too casual," he said. "On defense, we just want to continue what we started last year and try to eliminate teams' transition opportunities and take away easy three point shots, and if we do that, we should hopefully have a chance to be competitive and win some games during the season."

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November 20, 2008

We're Back

I would like to start by apologizing for the brief hiatus, a combination of work piling up for me and the break in between the end of fall sports season and the start of winter sports season was responsible for the lack of activity here, but the blog is now back in full swing. As some of you may know, the Blazer Football team finished the season with an upset win against up-county rival Damascus and a loss to Springbrook, ending their playoff hopes. I was unable to attend either game.

For the winter season, I will primarily be covering the Blazer Boys Basketball team. The squad had five wins and seventeen losses last season and made it to the second round of the playoffs. They return six players (all seniors) from last year's varsity team, including players to watch Mike McClain and Leon Sampson. I hope to have a full preview of the team in the coming weeks.

The season opens for the Blazers on December 5th at Einstein High School. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 PM.