Dixie Experienced and Ready

Coach Creamer is enthused about his team’s chances in the SWBL this season. “Waynesville was league runner up and return all 5 starters, they look to be the favored team to win the SWBL Buckeye division this season. But we also return 5 starters and feel that we will be right there with them. Waynesville will have Luke Credit, the quarterback on their league winning football back as their leading scorer. He is a presence that we will have to deal with. They don’t have the height that we have, but they are athletic and quick.”

But Dixie has good depth this season as well as 5 solid starters back from last year’s team. The Hounds will start Andrew Barnett at point guard, Luke Bowling and Mike Smiley at forward, and John Isaacs and Matt Isaacs playing post. Bowling and Matt Isaacs are juniors, the rest are seniors. And they will have size and experience coming off the bench – Ryan Gabbard moved back into the district and Zack Grubb are both 6’ 4” seniors that will see plenty of floor time. Both are new comers to the varsity squad. Grubb was injured last season, but is healthy for this year.

Coach Creamer was asked what he liked about this year’s team, “Well we have good length, meaning we don’t have anyone with dominating height. There are no giants on this team. But as a team we have good height overall. And these kids are athletic, they make good plays. I like our play inside, but our perimeter play needs to be more consistent. They can shoot well, but not great. Now there are times where we do well on the perimeter but we need to able to do it every night. ” Otherwise the team will see a lot of zone defenses.

Dixie was .500 in the regular season last year and dropped their first two games. So any chance at a league title will depend upon a strong start this season. Dixie will start their season on December 2nd against Carlisle at Carlisle and then open at home the next night against Franklin Monroe on the 3rd. Both teams should be good opponents. Carlisle fields a strong team this year and Franklin Monroe had a good playoff run last year. The way that the league is scheduled Dixie will play each division opponent twice, so they will have to deal with the Waynesville Spartans two times – each game should be a battle.