Dan Marino took what turned out to be his only trip to the Super Bowl for granted, thinking it would be just as easy for him to return as it was to advance initially. Lookout Valley basketball coach Joe Galloway doesn’t want his Yellow Jacket to make a similar mistake.
A season removed from the program’s first sectional appearance in 11 years, the Yellow Jackets are off to a 15-5 start and a 6-1 record in District 6-A. Galloway’s hope is that the success since late last season doesn’t cause his team to get complacent before reaching the bigger goal — the Class A state tournament.
The Jackets traveled to Clay County and lost 67-50 in last season’s sectional round and later said they weren’t quite prepared for that game.
“We didn’t expect to go to substate,” junior William Long said. “We thought we could win the district, and possibly make a run in the region, but substate was pretty surprising. This year it’s one of our goals to win the region because we had to go to Clay County and were pretty shocked: There were a lot of people, and we weren’t mentally prepared to see that many people.”
Long is one of the leaders among four starters returning from a 21-12 team, the only loss being post Stracey Bonner. Delaney Heathington and Long have both gone over 1,000 career points this season.