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Team
photo by Danny Stockton, stocktonstudios.com
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Ansonia looking to
make vast improvements
Barga wants program to shine again
By George Starks
ANSONIA - Coming off a dismal 5-15 season a year ago, second year
Ansonia coach Darrick Barga would like to see good things happen at
Ansonia.
Improvement is one of them.
“There is a lot of room for improvement,” said Barga. “As a team, we
need to get better and as a coaching staff, we need to get better. I
have seen improvement already but we have a long way to go.”
Entering with six seniors and four juniors on the varsity roster, Barga
has already noticed a difference in his team in practice.
“My seniors are showing me just how hard they are working and they are
leading by example as well as being verbal leaders,” said Barga. “They
are helping out the younger kids when they don’t have to. They are
helping them learn plays, so I am real pleased with them.”
Barga focused on his seniors.
“Zach Brown will be a wing and will play some point guard,” said Barga.
“He’s put a lot of work in over the summer and this fall and I look for
him to step up in scoring. Also in the backcourt will be Seth Keller.
He will move from a post position to a wing and point guard also with
Zach. He just came off of football and he’s really working hard and
being aggressive. Taylor Young will be our post player and it seems a
lot of his shots around the basket are falling and we have Dusty
Holcomb coming back. Last year in the middle of the season, he quit and
we talked about that before practice ever started. He told me he has
changed and he‘s shown that. I‘m glad to have him.”
The defensive bulldog for the Tigers will be a 5-10 senior.
“David Schlecty works his tail off and does things right,” Barga
stated. “He always seems to be in the right position. On offense, he
crashes the boards better than any guard we have. He’s going to be a
role player and will do a lot of our dirty work. All my seniors are
working really hard and setting a good example.”
Coming in a year ago, Barga brought in a new system.
Posting a record that was 10 games below .500, there is nowhere to go
but up.
“Last year, learning a new system, guys didn’t know where shots were
going to come from and with a different coaching style and different
defenses we ran, we never really started playing good defense until the
last five games of the year. Now, the kids know the system. In
December, we were 4-3 and went 1-12 the rest of the way. This year, the
guys know the offense and have been scoring in the scrimmages. I’m
happy with them and they are happy with the system. I believe we are
going to be better this season.”
One look at the Tigers schedule will tell anyone, it’s not going to be
a easy season.
Ansonia will have its first four games in ‘The Jungle’, starting with
Bradford. A week later, the Tigers will host Arcanum and Ft. Recovery
as well as Russia on the following Tuesday before hitting the road on
Dec. 16 at Twin Valley South.
Five games and nothing easy about any of them
“There are no gimmes on our schedule,” Barga admitted. “I know as a
coach, there are games we should win but we don’t want to overlook
anyone on the schedule. We have to come out every night and play our
game. We have to execute, put in the effort and have the teamwork. We
have to be consistent. Every night we have to rise to the occasion and
never play down to the level of our competition. I would be tickled to
death if we came out of our first four games with a 3-1 record.”
With a non-conference schedule that includes Riverside, St. Henry,
Versailles, Russia, Houston and Ft. Recovery, the Runnin’ Animals
(Ansonia) will have their work cut out for them.
With the OSHAA sectional staring February 20, that type of schedule
will help the Tigers in the long run.
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