By Jay Neal
sports@jacksonvilleprogress.com
RUSK — Rusk head coach Tracy Kincade doesn’t beat around the bush when talk turns to the possibility, or probability, of his Eagles making the state Class 3A playoffs this season.
Kincade, along with many other folks in southern Cherokee County, fully believe the Eagles to have all the components necessary for the team to finish at or near the top of the District 18-3A standings this go-round.
Rusk’s strengths are its experience and depth.
“We’re very experienced and we have a lot of depth,” Kincade said during Tuesday’s annual Media Day. “We play 12 guys and they all get a lot of playing time. The depth is there and (frankly) I think we are a playoff caliber team this year.”
The Eagles have eight seniors coming back, four of whom are returning starters.
“With eight seniors on the roster, we will go as far as those seniors take us,” Kincade said. “But, I think as the season goes on, the actions and the play of the seniors will start to trickle down to the younger guys as well.”
Rusk is led by 6-foot-2 senior, Michael Katon. Katon is off to a blistering start this year, averaging 21 points a game and 15 rebounds in Rusk’s first three outings — the Eagles are 2-1 on the year.
“Michael (Katon) is playing just about as well as I thought he would be playing,” Kincade said. “He’s been playing well all around and has just been a beast on the boards.”
Kincade said the promise and expectation of this year’s Eagles is much like the proverbial phoenix rising out of the ashes.
“This has been a rebuilding job; the program was down for five or six years, but we have turned things around now,” Kincade, in his fourth year at Rusk, said. “It takes time to rebuild a program and I think we are headed in the right direction.
“I’ve had this group of seniors since they were freshmen, so they have been in the program for a while now. We’re now starting to see the fruit of all their work over the past several years.”
Other key contributors for the Red and Black are John David Beard (11 ppg, 9 rpg), DeMarrio Richards (12 ppg), Blake Fletcher (11 ppg) and Kalon Skinner (11 ppg).
Kincade also mentioned that there are guys like Derrick Sanders, Mike Pyle, Brandon Downs, Taj Cleaver and Ray Harris who can come in off the bench and are capable of adding seven or eight points on any given night.
The Eagles finished 19-13, 5-9 in district, a year ago but are predicted to battle Lufkin Hudson for supremacy in the league this year.
