The Foxcroft Ponies 2021 boys basketball team will look to build on a late season run that got them into a play-in round game last season. All schools are facing obstacles with Covid-19, the Ponies are no different. the Foxcroft Academy campus got shut down for two weeks, putting all students into remote learning. This also impacted the athletic teams, canceling all practices and postponing all games during this time.
The Ponies lost a good portion of their offense from last years team. Nelson will look to his young players to fill that void.
“We are athletic and quick. I’ve got players who can get to the hoop and shoot a high percentage from the outside. We should be able to defend pretty well using our quickness,”Nelson said. “We are small, and we are young. We graduated roughly 75% of my scoring in June. We have 13 players who will dress for varsity games, and eight are freshmen and sophomores. I don’t have a traditional post presence, so we will have to try a few things to get inside touches.”
Logan Martin, Lucas Ames, and Brad Whitten provide senior leadership for the Ponies. Caden Crocker played key minutes as a freshmen last season and will be a player to watch as a sophomore in 2021.
The Ponies future looks bright as Nelson has a large number of newcomers that should see plenty of playing time during JV games and/or varsity games.
“Sophomore Adam Connor will provide valuable scoring from a few different positions; junior Gideon Topolski is one of my best overall athletes and seems to be coming into his own during the preseason. He can play on the low block if I need him to, but he can also handle the ball for us if that is what is needed. I have a group of five freshmen that will swing this year between JV and varsity as we look to get them quality minutes to improve the program,”Nelson said. “I’m excited about this group of players and what we can start this year. We have a team that brings a ton of effort and heart to practice every day. I think there will be times where we look really good in games and other times where we struggle, but if we can trust the process of what we are trying to do, I see some bright spots coming for Foxcroft Academy boys basketball.”
The Ponies are scheduled to open the season on January 26th when they host Brewer. Eastern Maine Sports Media will have live coverage of that game starting at 6:15 PM. EMSM will also have video only coverage of the JV game starting at 4:30. Other Ponies broadcasts on EMSM include February 10th VS Dexter, and February 16th VS Nokomis, All broadcasts on Eastern Maine Sports Media can be found on Facebook and YouTube. Follow Foxcroft Academy on social media for more schedule updates.
