By Anvil Welch
awelch@joplinglobe.com
Rod Wescott didn’t make major changes in his first season as boys basketball coach at Girard High School.
That likely was a strength working with the veteran-dominated Trojans.
Wescott, picking up where Zach Martin left off, piloted Girard to second place in the Kansas Class 4A Tournament.
Also, the Trojans, 24-2 overall, upheld their preseason prediction in the CNC League by reigning at 8-0.
Martin, of course, took the boys position at Riverton as well as assistant principal.
“We changed things up a little bit,” Wescott, who moved from Class 2A Arma Northeast, said. “The players bought into it.
“We had a great season,” Wescott said. “The people in the community and the administration were great. The players were very respectful toward me.
“Those guys (the Trojans) had played a lot of basketball,” Wescott said. “It was a lot of fun.
“One more victory would have been icing on the cake,” Wescott said.
But Basehor-Linwood slipped past Girard 53-48 in the Class 4A championship game in the Bicentennial Center at Salina.
“Basehor-Linwood just continued to get better and better during the season and peaked at the right time with a young team,” Wescott said. “They did a lot of the little things right which is what coaches like to see.”
Wescott, The Globe’s Coach of the Year for 2008-09, was blessed with senior starters — 6-foot-3 J.D. Heatherly, 6-2 Darian Kelly, 6-6 Tanner Poppe, 5-10 Eric Strukel and 5-9 Taylor Woods.
Johnny Webb, a 5-10 senior, wound up as the No. 1 sub, Wescott said. He also called on 6-3 junior Gannon Bauer, 6-0 junior Logan Cherry and 6-0 sophomore Reid Murphy.
“Webb, a leaper for his size, was used on the inside,” Wescott said. “He was a little fireball. ... a crowd pleaser.”
The Trojans had two more seniors in 6-3 Brandon Callaway and 5-8 Trey Scallions.
“All of the players understood their roles,” Wescott said.
Dave Wutke and Tommy Hartzfeld assisted Wescott.
Heatherly, who tossed in 60 treys, Poppe and Kelly were double-figure scorers for the Trojans.
“J.D. and Eric, who had 31 treys, kept the defenses honest,” Wescott said.
Heatherly, who averaged 13.7, scored 904 career points to miss joining Poppe and Kelly with more than 1,000.
Rodney Alan Wescott, a native of Chanute, will be 38 on July 27. He’s a product of Altoona-Midway High School, Neosho County Community College and Pittsburg State.
Wescott began coaching during college with a two-year stint at Pittsburg Middle School. He then moved to Northeast, assisting Pat Paske for one season, before serving 12 years as head coach.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Wescott said of the move from Northeast (currently in the CNC). “We’d made a lot of good friends.
“But the opportunity came up and we talked it over as a family,” Wescott said.
The Girard and Northeast schools are about 12 miles apart, Wescott said.
Rod and wife Lynette, who teaches at Pittsburg Middle School, have two children — Leah, 8, and Kyle, 7.
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Wescott makes minor changes in first year as Girard coach
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