It’s a work in progress, but the parts are there to make something impressive.
The Oilfields Drillers dropped a 72-27 decision to the Holy Trinity Academy Knights Dec. 13 in Senior boys Foothills Athletic Council basketball action in Black Diamond. It was not totally unexpected but all part of the learning process.
“That was our best defence yet — we just held HTA, probably the best team in the league, to just 72 points,” said Drillers head coach Graham Lettner. “Sure we didn’t score many points, so we have to improve on that side.”
It’s about keeping things in perspective.
Having a tiny 2A school like Oilfields knock off the Knights would have David saying ‘Hey that’s impressive’ shortly after he toppled Goliath.
“We have to go up against teams that might be better than us and still know we can come away improved,” Lettner said. “Maybe we lose to teams in the beginning of the season, but by the end of the season we can win those.
“My goal is that when we play HTA in the second half of the season, we look like a different team than we did tonight… All I want from our players is ‘you are coachable and to give me a full effort.’”
Grade 11 forward Logan Tymstra said the players are learning to play with one another with a new system.
“We would like to get to zones this year,” the forward said. “The style we are playing from last year is quite a bit different, we’re still just feeling it out.”
Grade 12 Driller JB Zeer is in his fourth-year on the senior squad.
“Most of the team is in Grade 11, we only have two Grade 12s,” Zeer said. “It is a really young team but I think we can do really well, considering our defence is really good.”
He said the Drillers took home some big lessons against the Knights.
“They are a big team and HTA is a good team to learn from,” Zeer said. “There’s lots of things that will work on other teams that don’t work on them because they are bigger and taller… We did really well.”
Oilfields picked up their first win of the season when they downed host Picture Butte in a tournament Dec. 9.
It was another step in the right direction.
“We are just talking about improving the whole season and we have already improved so much and we are only three weeks in,” Lettner said.
The Drillers host Strathmore’s Holy Cross Crusaders tonight (Dec. 20).
Meanwhile the Knights have a much anticipated exhibition game when the Foothills Falcons visit Holy Trinity Academy Thursday at 7:15 p.m.
