Central, Brainerd should vie for state berths again

Rick Rogers will have to continue working overtime, but that’s just fine with him.

The past couple of weeks have been the busiest in the veteran coach’s career as he spends the early afternoons after school overseeing Central High School’s boys’ basketball practice before making his way quickly to Tyner, where he works as an assistant football coach.

With the Rams having upset Boyd-Buchanan in Friday’s state football playoffs, Rogers can’t yet turn his full attention to getting the Purple Pounders ready for another potential run to the basketball state tournament. Instead, he’ll continue to work double duty as the prep basketball season tips off this week throughout the area and he continues helping prepare the Rams for another playoff game.

“I was working at least 15-hour days trying to balance teaching, then basketball and football practices, doing the team’s laundry and everything that goes with coaching,” Rogers said. “I wouldn’t complain or trade any of it. It’s the reason I got involved in high school sports, to work with and help kids.

“The buzz around the school at Central is really exciting. I had 10 cafeteria workers and several of the janitors ask me when our season started and wanting to buy team T-shirts. I’ve never seen that before.”

Central returns two starters – seniors Ryan Montgomery and Terron Hayes – from last year’s 22-win team that won district and region titles and reached the Class AA state tournament for the first time in 15 years.

Montgomery averaged nearly a double-double (18 points, 9 rebounds) per game last year and will be counted on even more this season, along with backcourt leader Hayes, who averaged 12 points and six assists.

Central also has added transfer McClendon Curtis, a 6-foot-7, 293-pound junior post who will become eligible the week before Christmas. But adding such a big body doesn’t mean Rogers plans to change his team’s style of play.

“We’ve always been a guard-oriented team, so we’ll have to learn how to add Curtis to the puzzle,” Rogers said. “He’s got a man’s body and can really help our rebounding, but we won’t be slowing down our offense. We’ll still be very up-tempo, and he’ll just have to adjust to getting up the court quicker.

“We feel like we’re as talented as we’ve ever been. Last year our number one goal was to get to the state tournament. We didn’t know how or what would happen if we did, but now that we’ve got that experience, this year our goal is to play into the weekend (at state).”

Brainerd’s boys, who also reached the AA state tourney, return guard Kentrell Evans, who was the engine that made the team go last season, averaging 12 points and nine assists. With the return of seniors Dajuonta Ross and Isaiah Shropshire, who has recovered from a torn ACL, and emerging sophomore Jessie Walker, the Panthers should challenge Central in District 6-AA and again contend for a state tournament berth.

In Class A, Arts & Sciences again should be a state tournament contender with four returning starters, led by junior guard Darius Graves and classmates Jameel Dodds and Miquel Hamilton, senior Shunn Moorer and newcomer Todd Lansden, a 6-6 senior post.

McCallie, which reached the Division II-AA state tourney last year, returns a pair of talented sophomores – Junior Clay and Mac Hunt – and again will be one of the top teams in the city.

Although Hamilton Heights is not a TSSAA member, there’s still plenty of reason to watch the Hawks this season, beginning with the return of 6-11 senior center Abdulhakim Ado, the top-rated college prospect in the area who averaged 10 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.9 blocks per game last year. Hamilton Heights girls’ team also picked up a pair of local transfers as all-state guards Akia Harris and Jamee Ward transferred from GPS and Brainerd.

In northwest Georgia, Calhoun senior guard Kaelen Riley, who averaged 15 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists, looks to lead Calhoun to another region title and back into the AAA playoffs.

On the girls’ side, McMinn Central, which finished as TSSAA runner-up in AA last year, returns three starters, including all-state guard Jacobi Lynn, who led the team in scoring (18.5) last year. Also back are fellow guards Jordan Wright and Hannah Cherry, and Bailey Martin, a part-time starter last year, will now be a full-time starter.

“We’re loaded at the guard position,” said Chargerettes coach Johnny Morgan, who’s entering his 38th season with the program. “If we have to, we’ll play five guards. We’ve done that before and been successful.

“I’m just excited and ready to get going again.”

Also back after all-star seasons last year are Baylor guard Kaleigh Clemons, a Vanderbilt signee and the program’s first Miss Basketball award winner who helped her team reach the D-II state semifinals; Signal Mountain’s Aryn Sanders, who led the area in scoring last season (24.3 ppg); and Van Buren County’s Lakelyn Bouldin, a UTC signee.

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.