Redskins rely on height, balance

PORT CLINTON — Port Clinton was expecting to have just one senior this season, but Aiden Finn will graduate high school early, so the Redskins have two. Along with senior Romney Turner, the Redskins look to improve on a 6-17 overall record and second-year coach Jared Rhode is excited to see what PC can do. "I'm really pleased with our offseason," Rhode said. "We had a really good summer and we had a really good fall. We had quite a few guys that were not involved in a fall sport, or even if they were involved in a fall sport they were able to shoot in the mornings or get some time in the gym. I think that will pay dividends. How soon in terms of wins and losses, I'm not real sure." Finn averaged 7.4 points and 6.0 rebounds (fifth in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division) per game last year. He will look to pick up the load on a team that graduated its top three scorers. Jackson Beasley's 18.9 points per game were good for third-best in the Bay Division and he earned first-team league honors. Beasley was third in the league in free throws made (86) and led the league in assists per game with 4.4. Also gone to graduation is Travis Yarnell's 8.7 points a contest and James Crowe's 8.3 points per night. Crowe was a third-team SBC Bay honoree. "We're going to have to guard," Rhode said. "I'm not going to say we have to win low-scoring games because we have some guys that can score the ball. I do think we're more athletic than we were last year. We have to guard and we have rebound the ball. That's something we've really, really discussed." Rhode pointed to players like 5-foot-11 sophomore guard Martez Wilson and 6-2 junior forward Zach Speer as players who will get an immediate chance to step up and fill voids left by players who graduated. Wilson played a lot of junior varsity last year while Speer missed all of last year injured. "We're going to try to get the ball inside to our bigs," Rhode said. "We think that's the strength of our team, but we also have some kids that have put a lot of time in. They should be able to shoot the ball from the perimeter and play inside-outside. We just have to get the right guys the touches and get the right guys shooting the ball." Turner is a 6-4 senior forward while 6-3 freshman forward Landon Leis could get time down low. Finn is a 6-2 senior forward. "We think that's going to be a strength of our team," said Rhode of the height. "We could potentially play, in our division I would call it a big lineup. Outside of (Jackson) McNulty from Huron who is probably the best big, we can throw essentially three kids on the floor that are 6-2 to 6-4. I think that can cause some matchup problems if we can execute and exploit that and use it to our advantage." The Redskins would like to be a little quicker out of the gate. Port Clinton lost its first seven games last year and won just two games in the SBC Bay. The Redskins averaged 50.8 points per game. "I think we have some games marked on our schedule that we look forward to," Rhode said. "I know the guys are looking forward to it. We have a lot of pride developing in our program and a good sense of camaraderie amongst the guys." Grayson Jones is a 5-8 guard who is part of a formidable freshman group for the Redskins. Rhode said 6-1 junior guard Jonny Peck could compete for a starting spot after transferring into the program from Fremont. Peck didn't play basketball last year, but was solid as a freshman. "We think we're better than last year," Rhode said. "That's easy to think when things are going well in practice and you're competing 5-on-5. The kids believe we're better. The staff thinks we're better. What that will translate to wins and losses, I'm not quite sure. Our goal as a program is to move forward and sooner than later, compete for conference championships." Roster No. Name Pos. Ht. Yr.1 Grayson Jones G 5-8 9 3 Martez Wilson G 5-11 10 5 Frankie Domiano G 5-9 11 11 Tre Armendariz G 5-9 11 13 Danny Baker G 6-0 10 15 Romney Turner F 6-4 12 21 Lucas Bodie G 5-10 10 23 Payton Meade G 6-0 10 25 Jonny Peck G 6-1 11 31 Aiden Meister G 6-1 10 33 Derek Abernathy F 6-2 11 35 Landon Leis F 6-3 9 41 Aiden Finn F 6-2 12 43 Zack Speer F 6-2 11