Assistant Wrestling Coach Nicki Kees (left) works with his son, Nick, on the mats during practice. The Scots first match is Nov.18 at Jack Britt.
It starts with Nick Kee.
Kee, a freshman, is a three-time AAU champion for his class and a seven-time state champion. He will be looked upon to carry on a family tradition of Kees who have wrestled for Coach Joel McCanna. His father, Nicki, wrestled for McCanna and is an assistant coach for the Scots now.
"Nick's really worked hard in the preseason," said McCanna. "His dad (Nicki) wrestled for me. He did a good job for me and we're expecting the same thing from Nick."
The big expectation coming into this season for Scotland is to win their first conference title since 2001. The Scots finished fourth in the now defunct Mid-Southeastern Conference last season.
"We want to the win the conference and that's what I expect the guys to work towards," McCanna said. "If we can win the conference, then we have a good chance to make regionals. We're also hoping for a number of state qualifiers and possibly bring home some state champions."
With the departure of M-SEC wrestler of the year, Evan Baker, to graduation, the Scots could be a little short on experience, but the participation and number of young men coming out are what has impressed McCanna early on.
"Our numbers are up this year and we don't like to use lack of experience as an excuse," said McCanna. "After about three weeks, we've usually had about 15 matches, so, it doesn't take long for our young guys to get experience."
Before the season started, most of the wrestlers competed in fall sports, which can lead to not enough preparation time before the regular season, but McCanna knows it's tough, but alot of them have been training since August.
"Alot of these boys have been practicing on and off since August, it was kind of you're on your own type of mentality," McCanna said. " With players participating in a fall sport, they're not allowed to start practice until their season is completed, but they work hard once they are here and we continue to push them to get better."
McCanna will be looking to sophomore Zak Watts to step up in his second season of high school wrestling. Watts took home a silver medal in the 103-pound division during last year's conference tournament.
Other big names returning who placed in the conference tournament last year are silver medalist Bradley Stewart (119-pound) and bronze medalist Trevin Hoskins (140-pound).
Along with Hoskins, Dustin Chaves (130-pound) represents the lone seniors on the team.
Other big returnees that McCanna noted were Tyler Dennis (145-pound), Ben Ewald (125-pound), Davis Jones (215-pound), Dustin Shepherd (160-pound), and Sirdareus McLean (215-pound).
Despite the youth, McCanna has been working hard with the underclassmen and expects big things from them.
"The younger guys we're hoping can become state qualifiers," said McCanna. "Some of the new guys in the upper-weight classes, we've been working real hard with them as well."
With the regular season slated to start on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at former M-SEC foe, Jack Britt, the most important match that McCanna stated would come in Southeastern Conference action against Pinecrest on Jan. 13 at home, but also stated that some teams in conference could turn some heads.
"Lumberton along with Pinecrest will be our two toughest matches," McCanna said. "Purnell Swett could turn things around with a new coach who use to be an assistant at St. Andrews. Hoke could be a surprise and with Richmond still in the state (football) playoffs, it'll depend on how far they advance, which will determine how much those kids want to wrestle, and that could be to our advantage."
Post a Comment
