After graduating a core of eight senior leaders, Antioch Community High School’s boys’ varsity basketball team enters the new season focused on rediscovering its identity and redefining its game plan with a young, developing roster now stepping into unfamiliar roles and learning to grow together as they adjust to the challenges left by last year’s dependable group of leaders.
“We are not as tall or athletic as we were in my first four years, so we are going to have to play smarter and more fundamentally to compete as well as we have the past three seasons,” Head Coach Sean Connor said.
With new faces filling the roster and returners adjusting to high expectations, the Sequoits are focusing on rebuilding chemistry, sharpening their fundamentals and establishing a culture that can carry them through the demanding and competitive months ahead. While the roster may look different, the players say the team’s determination has not gone away; if anything, this fresh start and new leadership have brought a renewed level of accountability within the team. The players have emphasized the importance of communication, discipline and player-led leadership as essential pieces of their team’s development.
“This year’s team, compared to the experience and talent of last year’s squad, is the complete opposite. We are a much smaller team and have way less experience this year because we are such a young team, while last year our entire starting five players on the court were seniors,” senior Cooper Marabella said.
This team is highly motivated to do better than last year and become closer than they ever were because they all have to contribute to this team’s success equally.
He emphasized how they are all very close and motivate each other during every practice to continue working hard every day, to reach the team’s ultimate goal of winning the regional championships.
Connor noted that last year, the team scored the most points per game in his first four years as coach, so they will not rely solely on just a couple of players this year. Everyone will have to step up and contribute on offense. Additionally, their team’s defense will have to be even better because they are not as tall or conventionally athletic as ACHS’ previous teams.
The team’s standout leaders who are stepping up to leadership positions are seniors Marabella, Mark Render and Chance Parsons.
“As a head coach in high school, you cannot take it for granted that the success will always carry over and will turn into leadership the next season,” Connor said. “After we won conference for the first time in 43 years, I thought last year’s group would carry the torch, but leadership did not come naturally to them.”
He emphasized how they spent a lot of time ensuring the current senior class learned from previous leaders and is taking ownership of this year’s team. Although they are a young team, they are excited about the talent that is joining them and the new skills it will bring to their team.
“Sophomore Logan Lennon and freshman Miles Marabella are two key young players for us this year, thanks to the help of coaches and the seniors they have learned from at an extreme rate,” Render said. “They are always looking to soak up as much information as possible.”
Lennon will start for the team this year, having played 15 varsity games as a freshman. M. Marabella will also play a significant role with the team as a freshman and is seeking to start most of the season. Lennon and M. Marabella both bring a tremendous amount of talent, athleticism and basketball experience, since they also play club basketball during the offseason.
Despite this team’s youth and loss of last year’s seniors, the Sequoits are ready to enter this season motivated to grow, compete and redefine who they are. With seniors confidently stepping up into leadership roles and young talent quickly developing, the team is focused on building chemistry, sharpening fundamentals and embracing the upcoming challenges ahead. Together, as one, they all aim to turn this season into an opportunity for progress and renewed success.
