Wrestling

The wrestling team started off their season on Nov. 30 with a competition against E.C Glass. They took the floor and swept away their competition with Senior Ian Dillon and Sophomore Ethan Vernatter winning both off their matches.”We’ve been working year- round to stay in good condition and help the younger guys prepare, and they’ve all worked hard. It showed on Wednesday when we beat E.C Glass,“ said Dillon.

Other highlights of the evening included Junior Esa Mayo-Pitts, Sophomore John Bland, and Freshman Alden Custer winning their first matches. “Everyone did great job. It was a good start to the season,” said Assistant Coach Jordan Divine, who works with long-time Head Coach Michael Gore.

Scholastic Bowl

At a competition at Louisa on Nov. 30, the FCHS Scholastic Bowl team beat Albemarle,Orange, and Monticello. Senior Harrison Lee had a nine-question answer streak, gaining the team 225 points on his own. “I joined [Scholastic Bowl] because it seemed really cool, I like trivia and the team has great people and it’s really fun. My favorite part is when you ‘buzz in’ and you answer and it end ups being right,” said Sophomore Bayley Leyshon. Their next competition is Dec. 7 at home.

Girls’ Basketball

On Nov. 30, girls’ varsity team started the season off with a win against Waynesboro, beating them 49-26. “We had really good defense that night and held them to under double digits every quarter,” said Junior Michelle Hammond. “We had great defense and we controlled the ball,” agrees Freshman Kyia Scott who scored 14 points at the game. “If we can focus more and focus on little things like handling the ball well, good passes, and encouraging each other even more, we can continue doing well,” she added.

This year, the Lady Flucos are being coached by Nick Ward, Erika Whitten, and Chad White. “There isn’t anything new, but the team is a lot younger than it was, and it makes things more interesting,” said Whitten, who is an assistant coach. “Our focus is on getting better rather than winning. If we continue to do better, we’ll do well, and if we play well and get better, championships could follow.  There isn’t one stand out player. It depends on the night because we’re a talented team and at any moment anyone could step up and be that player,” she added.

Meanwhile, the girls’ JV team, coached by Jamie Stafford and Keith Brown, also started the season off well, winning their first game 28-25. “I feel like the first half, we didn’t work together as a team, but in the second half we did,” said Sophomore Hannah Ledford. “If we play good the entire game instead of just one half, I think we can continue to win games,” she said.

Boys’ Basketball

Coached by Jason Davis and Heath Bralley, the varsity boys began their season with a disappointing loss to Waynesboro of 30-47 . “We put in a lot of work, but the ball didn’t come to us and it didn’t go to plan,” said Junior Alex Logan. “We’re working well together and if we keep it together and put in 100%, we’ll do better,” he added.

Coach Davis, who spent many years as Assistant Coach under long-time Coach Munro Rateau, is focusing on the postivie. “We are continuing to work on being a single unit that communicates, plays with intensity, and works to meet our potential. We played well in the first game, but didn’t make enough shots. When we start finishing around the basket and shooting with more confidence, we are going to be fine,” he said. Davis added that “The loss was a tough one because we played well enough to win in most facets of the game, but at the end of the day we didn’t score enough to win. It is hard to win high school basketball games, so I feel bad that we did so many good things and didn’t get the result we wanted.”

Meanwhile, the JV team won their game against Waynesboro 51-43. “I think we could work more as a team and make more layups to improve,” said Sophomore Ahmad Opie, “but we have good post players; they’re taller than most teams.” Coach Jason Barnett said “Some of our main goals this year are to improve our overall basketball IQ, become a better practice team and execute at a higher speed on a daily basis and prepare ourselves to be a significant contributor to the varsity program.” Although each player can’t start each game, said Barnett, “that does not mean we all cannot find ways to contribute to our team and this program’s continued success.”