FeedsNew coach, Rockets split opening week
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John Glenn senior Jackie Wilson takes a shot over Riverview’s defense in last Tuesday’s 63-52 Rocket victory. Wilson had eight points and eight rebounds in the season home opener. Photo by Ken GarnerThe John Glenn Rockets have a new look and, so far, it looks good.
Although first-year Coach Dan Young hasn’t tailored the perfect fit yet, he and his crew are off to a decent start. They split their first week with a home win against a strong Riverview squad last Tuesday in the season opener and a loss to a pretty tough North Farmington host on Friday.
Glenn has a stable group of experienced and new players to help steer the Rockets in the right direction this year.
The Rockets didn’t have any notable losses from last year’s relatively young roster. Five seniors graduated, but it was four underclassmen that carried the team through an up-and-down campaign. All are back, adding some much needed experience and firepower.
Returning seniors include 6-foot-3 Jackie Wilson, who offered eight points and eight rebounds in the team’s 63-52 victory over Riverview. Rob Jones is back on the court for the Rockets. The 6-foot-3 senior was close to a double-double in the first outing, scoring nine and rebounding nine. Cordarryl Jones is back for his final campaign, too.
Junior Earl Hardison is back in action. He scored 18 in the loss to North Farmington.
New faces in the varsity lineup this season include juniors Keshawn Martin, who led the team with 14 points last Tuesday; Stefan Marken, who added 13 against Riverview and 6-foot-8 Jordan Manier.
All were brought up from the JV squad late last year. Juniors Paul Estrada, Daris Smith, Charles Woodford and sophomores Austin Anderson and Dorian Prather will get their first taste of varsity play this year.
“They’re great kids,” Young said of the team as a whole. “They work hard and are showing some good chemistry already. They really want to have a good year.
“We have to stress defense and rebounding,” he added. “Those two ingredients can help us win every night.”
The biggest addition to the team might be Young himself. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the program.
The Pioneer Middle School physical education teacher was an assistant coach at Central Michigan University and then at Western Michigan University. After that he made the change to high school basketball as the head coach at Brighton for the 1993-94 season. He went 13-8 there and won the Kensington Valley Conference championship.
He went to Canton for the ‘94-95 season. He stayed for six years and won three league titles and two district crowns. After that he called it quits in order to spend more time with his family that included a three-year-old and newborn sons. He continued as an assistant with Catholic Central during his hiatus from head coaching.
His children are now in school fulltime, offering him the chance to head coach again when the Glenn position opened up.
So far so good as the team is 1-1 against two tough opponents.
Against Riverview the Rockets carried a one-point lead into halftime. Glenn made some big plays in the second half, extending its lead by as many as 11 points, according to Young. Riverview tried to get back in it by fouling, but The Rockets were 5-for-6 down the stretch. Martin and Marken each made two from the line and Rob Jones sank one. The team was 10-14 throughout the game.
“That was a good win for us to start the season,” Young said.
Early foul trouble led to the 66-52 loss to North Farmington.
With Novi this week and a grudge match against visiting Wayne next week—7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 21—it doesn’t look to get any easier for Glenn.
