Waelder racks up all-district awards

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WAELDER —The taste of defeat in the regional semifinals hasn’t left the mouths yet of the Waelder Wildcat boys’ basketball team, but athletic program was still able to celebrate the accomplishments they achieved this season, with many of their athletes winning postseason awards for the district.

Head coach Brandon Howard was named coach of the year in the district for the second consecutive year.

Meanwhile, seniors Steven Ewing and Aaron Wilson both had all-district awards, with Ewing coming away with a first-team all district title.

Although Ewing didn’t end his high school career with a state title, he did admit that this year’s team surpassed his expectations.

“I set a limit [where] if we passed it, I would be happy with myself,” he said. “So we far past my limit and I think for all of us going as far as we did, I’m really proud of what we did.”

Ewing did realize that many around the community may have high expectations of this program year after year. Nonetheless, putting into perspective the fact that the team had a roster with nine freshmen, two that started, a regional semifinal outing isn’t something to snuff at.

“Some people doubted us at the beginning of the season because we lost three really big seniors,” he said, “but still we proved a lot of people wrong. We were one game away from where we were last year, and I’m just really proud of these young guys, they did a really good job.”

Meanwhile, freshman breakout Justin Schilab who was honored with a first-team all-district award said he’d much prefer a state title over anything else.

“We didn’t get to where we were supposed to be,” he replied. “I would rather have a state championship than any award.”

Nonetheless the loss will give Schilab and the rest of the young Wildcats motivation.

“[We just have to] learn from our mistakes and move on,” he said.

Ewing explained why the younger players have this motivation so early on, touting their junior high prowess.

“Those young guys, they came in off two undefeated season in junior high,” Ewing said. “They were winners, they’re not used to losing, period. So us as a team, pushing them to the playoff level gets them used to it early in their career. They’ll be ready [for next year] and they’ll know what to do.”

Another freshman that won an award was Carlos Reyes who played point guard for Waelder. His first-year campaign ended with a second-team all-district award.

“As a freshman I didn’t think it would be like this because I did have a sophomore to overcome,” Reyes said. “It just took hard work and dedication in the summer.”

The same hard work and dedication Schilab echoed that the team will have to have this upcoming year.

“[We] just [have] to stay hungry and learn from what we didn’t do right this year and stay humble and just eat,” Reyes said. “We have to look at what we got, find what’s good and  find the ups and downs to work on.”

One leader that will emerge next season is now junior Tracy Moore. Moore was named district MVP, one season after being named co-defensive player of the year. He needs no extra motivation as he used last year to push him to this MVP-caliber of player.

“It all started out last year,” he said. “When we lost I took that as motivation and having co-defensive player of the year I was like, ‘I can’t have no co- no more.’”

This season, Moore took it upon himself to guard the best player on the other team and Howard trusted him in doing so.

“I just always wanted to guard the best player so I know what I got to do for us to come with a win.”

Next year Moore is expected to take that upon himself again. And with a young core with a deep playoff run in their resume, he expects the team to deliver again next season.

“The freshmen that played this year, they will have experience,” Moore noted, “but the players that were on the bench, they know what it feels like but I think next year will be their time for them to grow.”

“We’re still going to be pretty young,” he continued, “we just have to work [the younger players] in.”

As long as the team can develop that chemistry early on, Waelder will be back near the top of the state rankings, hoping to get into that state tournament next season.

Chemistry is vital to the Wildcats as Moore and Ewing put it.

Ewing retold the story of the team’s chemistry issues early on as all the players weren’t necessarily close.

“We didn’t know what to expect because a lot of freshmen on the team, three seniors gone, we didn’t know what to do,” Ewing recalled. “That [Port Aransas] tournament, we all kind of got together and we really bonded. That’s how we knew we’re a team and this is what we all signed up for, we’re all brothers, this is us.”

The Wildcats next season will have to find that moment early next season to produce the same results.

“Once we get the little things down and our chemistry down, we’ll be back,” Moore concluded.

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