The pain of the last two seasons is just now being wiped away as the DuBois Area Beavers look to improve. During the 2006-2007 season, the Beavers posted a disappointing 3-20 record, and during the 2007-2008 season they didn’t improve when they had another losing season at just 2-21.
The DuBois Area Beavers haven’t had any momentum in the last 2 years to build off of. The highlight of last year was when DuBois was able to beat St. Marys at home late in the season. The Beavers have won only 5 games in two years under head coach Karen Pfingstler.
This year the Beavers have a new head coach. In a school where basketball tends to be eclipsed by football, wrestling, and baseball, new head coach Scott Creighton looks to add pride back to the Beaver basketball program. Last year Creighton was the assistant girl’s basketball coach at Oregon State; previous to that, he was the girl’s basketball assistant coach at Clarion University.
The Beavers lost five players from last year, Gabe Bertini, Jordan Straw, Jon Wayland, John Hartzfeld, and Ed Sines, and all of them saw a lot of game time. This year the Beavers look for new senior leadership from players such as last year’s leading scorer Jordan Labue, and other seniors such as Tyler Groves, Brant Davis, Cody Shalk, and Danny Henry. Joining the team this year is Senior Zach Beahr. Beahr played basketball last year for Clear Fork High School in Ohio.
Head coach Creighton knows that DuBois is still rebuilding its basketball program. This year Creighton is stressing to the entire team to build tempo throughout the course of the game. DuBois has speed this year, with two very fast players competing for the point guard position. Senior Andy Bush and Junior Josh Means look to bring some explosive plays to the DuBois lineup.
“I am very excited to get this season going, no matter what the outcome is. I expect all of our players to give a game winning effort,” Creighton said.
The Beavers do have a tough schedule ahead as they play Keystone, Hollidaysburg, Altoona, Elk County and State College in the first 5 games of this season. Later in the season the Beavers will finish with some more tough match-ups as they take on Erie Cathedral Prep and Brookville in the final 2 games. Even though they have a tough road to face, the Beavers are not looking ahead at any other game on the schedule. Coach Creighton is very aware of the conference battle that the Beavers face this year against tough teams such as Elk County, Clearfield, and St. Marys.
“Our team is going to continue to practice hard, getting better each and every day, working out all the kinks before big conference games,” Creighton said.
The DuBois Area Beavers kick off the season Friday, December 5th, at the Keystone Tip-off Tournament.