The Cedarville Jr High Pirates are gearing up to take on the Big 1-0. In other words, their tenth game of the season. The Jr Pirates wrapped up last week with conference games against Charleston and Waldron. Cedarville took a loss in each match as they went 21-48 against the Tigers on Tuesday night and 23-38 against the Bulldogs on Thursday. The Jr Pirates may have lost a couple of games, but it wasn’t due to lack of effort.
Although points on the board is what wins games, fans and coaches love to see a squad give it all they have and that’s exactly what these Jr Pirates put on the court. Coach Frank Cluck explained, “I am proud of their effort so far. We need to polish up on our aggressiveness though. I would like to see us play with more toughness. We need to win a high percentage of the 50/50 loose balls in order to compete with teams that are much bigger than us. These boys will get there, it’s just taking some time”
For their tenth game, the Jr Pirates will battle the Tigers at Green Forest tonight, December 21st. On December 22, Cedarville will jump on the bus again, but this time to face for the second time this season, the Lincoln Wolves. In their first go-round, the Jr Pirates pillaged the win 18-15 and in this upcoming round Coach Cluck is hoping that the boys will step up their rapid in-your-face skills. “We really need to focus on defense and rebounding against Lincoln. Their size advantage makes it that much more important for us to win the battles for loose basketballs.”
Photos courtesy of Malinda Mizell
