Foxcroft Academy Boys Basketball
Coach: Toby Nelson, 3rd Season
Last Year Record: 5-7, lost to Orono in Big East Class B Pod Tourney
Returning Players: 9 of the 11 players on the 2021-22 varsity squad are returning members. Of the other two, one player is coming back after taking a year off (Sr. Austin Seavey), and the Ponies have a boarding student from Croatia, Sr. Filip Brkic, who will provide a solid scoring threat and presence on the floor. Seniors include Gideon Topolski, Austin Seavey, and Filip Brkic; Juniors are Caden Crocker, Adam Connor, and Cameron Chase; Sophomores are Josh Cornett, Jadon Richard, Jackson Smith, Devin Henderson, and Wyatt Rayfield.
Newcomers: Mentioned above with Seavey returning and Filip’s arrival. “Austin provides strong senior leadership after coming off a great football season, and Filip, as mentioned above, will be one of our main scoring threats.” Nelson said.
Expectations:
“We are cautiously optimistic with this group. We were able to play a lot over the summer and started to see some nice things happen. Our boys’ program hasn’t qualified for the quarterfinals in nine years, and these kids want to be the ones to break that streak, especially coming off the successful fall season where our football team won the Class D state championship, and our boys’ soccer team had it’s best overall record in twenty years,”Nelson said. “All 11 players were on either the football or soccer teams this fall. We have a lot of work to do, and our schedule is stacked with quality competition.”
Strengths
Depth
The Ponies have 11 guys thar Nelson can go to with confidence depending on the situation.
Speed
“We have guys that can get up and down the floor. We will use that to our advantage in fast-beak situations as well as on the defensive end, where we would like to push the tempo, where possible,”Nelson said. “Finally, our players have a strong basketball IQ and see the floor very well.”
Challenges:
Size
”We will be outsized, height-wise by just about every team. We have not been blessed with a true center for years, and this year is no different,”Nelson said. “We will need to do a good job boxing out, rebounding, and limiting second-chance opportunities on the defensive end. If we can do that, I like our chances in our games this season.”
Outlook
Many of these Ponies are coming off a state championship football season. This group is hoping they can make some history of their own.
”We are still young, experience-wise, with many of these kids just playing their second season of varsity basketball, and their first season was the COVID season, so take that for what it’s worth. My kids have worked hard to get better, stronger, and quicker, and they want to be the group that gets Pony basketball back to the tournament in February,” Nelson said. “We understand that is much easier said than done. We have a tough schedule loaded with Big East teams, as well as games with Dexter and Central, two of the better Class C teams in Northern Maine. The good news is that there are plenty of heal points out there to get if we can put the ball in the hoop.”
Schedule
The Ponies are scheduled to open their preseason game schedule with a home game against PCHS on December 2nd. Eastern Maine Sports will have live coverage of that contest starting at 4:45 PM. The final tuneup for the Ponies will be against class A favorite Nokomis on December 7th. The regular season will start on December 10th when Foxcroft plays host to Houlton.
