Following the historic season of last year’s team, Bulldog fans were excited to finally see their team back in the WAC (Waldron Activities Center) to kick off the year.
The team lost a lot of seniors and hired a new coach to lead the Bulldogs. Coach Josh Atchley will be at the reins this year as he hopes to guide the team to back-to-back state tournament appearances. Their first matchup of the season was against the Caddo Hills Indians who bested the Bulldogs last year on their way to a 2A state runner up trophy.
Right from the opening tip, the Dogs started off hot as they hit three straight jump shots from Drew Owens, Ethan Mayberry, and Camdon Holcomb to jump out to an 8-0 lead. Those would be the only first quarter points Waldron would score as they had problems securing a defensive rebound and turning the ball over. Waldron had some foul trouble early and the Indians took advantage as they made several trips to the free throw line. As the whistle blew to end the first quarter, the Dogs were up 8-7.
The Bulldogs started the second quarter with a bang as senior Jayden Mcconnell, affectionately referred to as “Fish” by his teammates, buried a three from the right corner to extend the lead to 4. Waldron began to substitute which allowed some of their football players, Trenton Hunt and Chris Lopez, who have not been able to spend much time in the gym to get some minutes. Hunt’s presence was felt as soon as he stepped on the court as he hit a floater in the lane and caused havoc on the defensive end. Caddo would then go on a run as they switched to a zone defense that gave the Dogs fits. Waldron foul trouble continued in the second quarter as senior Drew Owens picked up his second foul which caused him to head to the bench. As Waldron headed into halftime, they felt good about only being down 3 because they knew some of their key players that had gotten into foul trouble were going to be back on the court in the second half.
To begin the second half the Dogs quickly tied things up at 23, and not long after took the lead as “Fish” McConnell converted an old fashioned three-point play and junior point guard Lidge Stinson got another to push the lead to 28-23. Waldron did a better job of securing rebounds and stayed out of foul trouble which allowed them to maintain their lead through three quarters. Senior postman Camdon Holcomb added another jumper which grew the lead to 37-32 heading into the 4th quarter.
As the fourth quarter began the Dogs knew that they had to step up their game to put the Indians away, and that is exactly what Camdon Holcomb did. He started off the 4th with back-to-back layups to make the lead 41-34. Not long after junior guard Ethan Mayberry made a three-point jumper to push the lead to double digits. Caddo began a full court press which caused the Bulldogs to turn the ball over and allowed the Indians to get within 5, but after a charge taken by Sophomore Chris Lopez, the Bulldogs began to pull away. The interior duo of Camdon Holcomb and “Fish” McConnell proved to be too much for the Indians as they combined for 16 points in the fourth. After a final lay in by Lidge Stinson, Coach Atchley decided to call off the Dogs and walk away with a 61-46 win in his first outing as head coach.
Coach Atchley went on to add, “I am really proud of my dudes. Typical first game jitters hurt us a bit, but I am very thankful to come out with a win. Still ironing out some details as far as personnel, rotations, and mindsets but we will get there. The Dogs are 1 and 0, #FlytheW!”
The Bulldogs will take on the Cobras of Fountain Lake back at the WAC on Thursday, November 11th. Jr Girls will kick off the action at 4:30, followed by Jr Boys, Sr Girls, and Sr Boys.
