The Bleckley County Royals basketball team tipped off the season with one short of perfect ten, that's 9 wins and 0 losses, along with a bear brawl tournament championship right near the halfway mark. Then, the team's luck seemed to run out, but Coach Cliff Kerbo says they are light-years away from last year.
Coach Kerbo explains, "We're a lot more athletic. We're a little bit more experienced. We didn't have a senior last year and we're still young. We played a lot of sophomores last year. So we have a lot of experience."
Senior leadership from Brentine Taylor and Vidal Nelson isn't the only flow of balance for the purple and gold, junior Marcus Mack is also helping run the show, and for that, he is our Athlete of the Week.
"I run the team pretty good," says Marcus Mack. "I feel like if anybody has a question or needs help out on defense, if they need it and if they need someone to talk to, I'm here."
"He's grown a lot. He was our best ball handler last year. He's probably our third-leading scorer right now. He's just grown up a lot. His experience is invaluable from this year to last year," says Coach Kerbo.
Even though the second half of the season was less successful for BCHS. At 7-6, the Royals are still looking to be kings of their region with a season finale win over East Laurens and the team is excited.
"I like our chances, I really do," says Kerbo. "We're just gonna give it our all and let the chips fall where they may."
Mack agrees, "Nobody likes to lose. We plan on finishing strong. We will."
And Mack's 3.8 GPA are also numbers that keep the team focused on their number 1 guard.
"You can only smile about that, because when kids are doing what they are supposed to do in the classroom as well as the court, thats a plus," says Kerbo.
Mack says, "I push myself everyday in the classrooms just to get straight As. I'm glad that I'm doing it because it's only gonna help me in the future."