The thumping of shoulder pads is over for Glenbrook School, replaced by the squeaking of sneakers and the bounce of the basketball.
Tonight, Glenbrook will begin their second season under the direction of head coach and Athletic Director, Jeff Dalton.
Dalton and the Apaches went through some early season growing pains last year before turning it on near the end of the schedule.
This year’s team could face a few similar growing pains but the size and talent is in place for this team to go deeper than the previous one.
“We’ve looked pretty good so far,” Dalton said. “We’re trying to become more of a man-to-man defensive team. I think we’ll have some growing pains early, but if we all buy in to what we’re trying to do I think we’ll have a shot to be pretty good.”
The Apaches return a couple of key starters and get Cade Morgan back from an injury that ended his junior season. The Apaches also have some newcomers that figure to play big roles in how far the Apaches can go.
“Sam Marvin kind of makes us go,” Dalton said. “He’s our point guard. He got better and better as last year went on. Cade Morgan, a senior, worked hard this summer coming back from an injury, he’s looked real good. Caden Copeland is a guy we’re counting on. If he makes up his mind that he can be a good player than he can be. We need him to show up every night. Garrett Sanders had probably the best summer of anybody. He’s going to be big for us.”
Norton also figures to get valuable contributions from younger players such as Joseph Windham and Cade Contrez.
The Apaches will find out a lot about themselves tonight as they host Westside Christian in the first game of their season.
Westside Christian, located in El Dorado, Arkansas, and features two post players in the range of 6’2” and upwards of 260 pounds.
“The key to beating them apparently is shutting down their two post players,” Dalton said. “The guys have heard me say it a lot, but this is a process. If we do what we did last year, which is get better and better each month of the season. I think we’ll be in the playoffs and when you get there anything is possible.”