By Jim Rogers

The White Swan Cougars were too much for the hapless Waterville boys varsity team Friday in Waterville.

The fresh new starters for the Shocker squad needed more than luck to match a quicker, more talented Cougars team.

The 70-18 thrashing did not let up for 32 minutes of play.

Waterville was down 17-2 at the end of the first quarter with only one goal and 30-5 at the half with no more than a dozen shots at the basket. 

The Cougars beat the Shockers with their offense power, but also paralyzed the Waterville offense with steals and forced errors.

Coach Jody Flaget said, “We are definitely young and inexperienced. We are trying to put things together collectively to gain our team chemistry.”

Flaget introduced an offense with posts because of the height. In the past three years, the boys have played their offense with four guards. But the new offense was not working Friday night.

Flaget emphasized that patience will be the team’s best virtue this season as they develop as a team.

Starting for the Shockers were 6’3” Kayden Shafer, 6’5” Taylor Yager, 6’3” Jamie Abrahamse, 6’0” Mitchell Clements and 5’10” Fernando Mosqueda.

The starters were held to 10 points total.

Scoring for the Shockers were Gustavo Sanchez, 4; Shafer, 3; Joey Velazquez, 3; Abrahamse, 2; Marco Caballero, 3; Clements, 2 and Tate Newcomb, 1.

Reflecting on the game Friday Flaget said, “We definitely were distracted.”

Not taking anything away from an excellent opponent, he said, “We will not face a team with better guards this season. They demonstrated their skills against us. They have trophied at the tournament the last couple years and are poised to make another run.

“Our guards will learn from their guards the level of ball pressure…continued exposure will translate into continued growth in our young players. We are going to watch film, learn from White Swan and move forward.”

The junior varsity team lost to White Swam Friday 43-33.

The Waterville teams will play at Liberty Bell on Saturday, Dec. 11.

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