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Cobras Adjusting To Being Targeted

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By EDDIE DANIELS edaniels@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - Hudson coach Jason Vetter has found himself in an interesting set of circumstances this season: learning how to be the team with a bull's-eye firmly affixed to its chest.

Against strong teams, the Cobras (9-6 and No. 3 in Class 4A district standings) play hard and are fully focused for 32 minutes. But when they play teams they're supposed to beat, that focus is scattered.

"It's just a new problem, and we knew it would be this year," said Vetter, in his sixth season coaching the Cobras. "I told the guys at the beginning of the year, you're going to have a big bull's-eye on your chest this year, and even I've never dealt with that before.

"So I think we're just all kind of learning together how to deal with success. They're having to learn how to bring it every night and I'm having to learn how much to push them and how upset to be."

Last week, Hudson knocked off Wiregrass, 61-46; Hernando, 65-27; and Pasco, 70-51. Vetter was obviously happy his team won, but he wasn't happy with the way they looked winning.

"It's that balance, how much to get on them and how much to leave them alone and let them work through it," Vetter said.

Last season, the Cobras entered the Class 4A-District 8 tournament as the No. 5 seed. They knocked off top-seeded Springstead and eventually ended as the district runner-up. Their regional tournament appearance earned them the label of the most successful boys basketball team in program history.

It's easy to see how that success leads to becoming the target for the next team looking to come up.

G Jarrod Branco leads Hudson in scoring, and the Cobras also have relied on the play of F Josh Santos, who, Vetter said, is playing well on both ends of the floor. Also chipping in is SG Chris Russo.

The team's overall defense has also experienced an uptick.

"It's everything," Vetter said. "We can score enough to beat anybody in the state, I don't care who it is. But with us, it's going to be defense."

SHOELESS BOB: When Sunlake travels to Gainesville Saturday for a game against Gainesville St. Francis, Coach Bob Marinak will coach without shoes. As will St. Francis coach John Siers.

The teams are taking part in the Samaritan's Feet Foundation Children's Shoe Drive. The Seahawks will first watch the University of Florida host Arkansas at 2 p.m. and then take on the Wolves at 5 p.m.

St. Francis features the son of UF men's coach Billy Donovan. The younger Donovan, also named Billy, is a junior guard and one of the Wolves' team captains.

Samaritan's Feet is a humanitarian relief organization that puts shoes on children's feet around the world. The game brings attention to the situation, and each school involved collects shoes to be donated to the organization. In past contests, coaches have opted to coach without shoes, which Marinak and Siers are continuing.

The organization's goal is to provide 10 million pairs of shoes for 10 million impoverished people in 10 years. Nearly one million pairs of shoes have been collected already.

Samaritan's Feet was started in 2003 by president and founder Manny Ohonme, who received his first pair of shoes from a missionary at the age of 9. He started playing basketball and other sports in those shoes, earning a spot on a traveling basketball team and eventually his high school team. He was offered a scholarship to play basketball at the University of North Dakota, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. Ohonme spent 10 years in the marketing and logistics business before starting Samaritan's Feet.

SHARPENING THE STAMPEDE: There is a marked difference in Larry Holden's team. The team has developed a heightened mental fortitude and the coach believes it has a lot to do with comfort.

"Our system is much more complex for kids to have to learn than most of the high schools, both offensively and defensively," Holden said. "We just run a lot of different sets.

"I see with our players, we've definitely developed a better mental toughness than other teams along the way. I think having more knowledge of our system, of what we're trying to do, developing that metal toughness has been something that has created us air that has been different since I've been here."

The Mustangs, 11-5 going into tonight's game at River Ridge, have had a full-team effort in getting to this point.

F Billy Hester has been great defensively, rebounding well, blocking shots and scoring about 10 points a game. F Mike Francis leads the team in steals and is averaging close to 10 points. He also can hit from 3-point range or penetrate and finish. G Chad Jeckel is the leading scorer, averaging about 11 points. He also can hit 3-pointers or penetrate and score. PG Anthony Webb is taking care of the ball, providing leadership and playing well defensively. Also, F Elliott Walker adds about seven points a game, rebounds well and records steals.

G Jake Driscoll and G Dustin Hannel provide a spark off the bench.

The Mustangs are third in the Class 6A-District 7 standings.

The team has four games left in district play and three of them are against teams - Countryside, St. Petersburg and Sickles - that need to gain ground on the Mustangs.

NOISE FROM THE RIVER?: The Royal Knights are near the .500 mark at 9-8 and have only eight games remaining in the regular season. They sit in third place behind Ridgewood and Land O' Lakes in the Class 5A-District 7 standings. So what can they do to make noise the rest of the way?

"We work hard every day," Coach John Sedlack said. "I can honestly say I go to the last practice of the year with a full practice plan and we're going to execute our practice plan."

That mentality of working hard to the end has sunk in with players such as senior captain Alex Hill, Cody Bagamary (also a captain), Shane Allen and Marco Custodio.

"I try to keep them focused," Sedlack said. "We don't talk a lot about wins and losses, we talk about doing our job. If we play well and lose, I can handle that. When we don't play well and we lose ... that bothers me because we repeat, and repeat and repeat and repeat things all the time in practice."

SUPPLEMENTAL READING: Log on to TBO.com and head to prep sports to read the game story from Thursday night's matchup between visiting Nature Coast and Hudson.

Coaches who want to add their team's information can submit entries to Eddie Daniels by calling (813) 948-4214 or e-mailing

edaniels@tampatrib.com.

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