BOYS

Starting Lineup

Cole Hobbs – So.
James Blain – Sr.
Valient Hed – Jr.
Taylor Lovelace – Jr.
Austin Biggs – Jr.

LAST YEAR: (0-0) First Season

THIS YEAR: Starting a high school basketball program from scratch is tough. Consider this: for their first season, the Johns Creek football team had the benefit of playing a junior varsity schedule. This gave the team a year to get acclimated to their competition and it gave the coaches a year to put their system into place. On the other hand, the basketball team gets no such down time. As of November 17, the Gladiators will be in a season-long baptism by fire as the first Johns Creek basketball team will play a complete varsity schedule. Although the team is new, Gladiator Coach Pete Goggin was blessed with some talent for his team’s inaugural season. Goggin will have three players who saw extensive varsity action last season. Cole Hobbs and Valient Hed were strong bench players for Chattahoochee while James Blain, the lone senior on the team, saw playing time last season for Northview. For Goggin, there’s many challenges, but one really sticks out in his mind, “Becoming a team is one of the biggest challenges,” says the former Alpharetta varsity basketball coach. “These guys came from Chattahoochee and Northview. That’s two different programs with two different systems. So trying to get them to become one Johns Creek team has been a challenge, mainly because I have a completely different offensive and defensive mindset than the coaches over at Northview and Chatthoochee.” Goggin has molded his team rather quickly as the Gladiators were able to pick up the first win in school history Tuesday with a 68-43 win over Walnut Grove.

GIRLS

Starting Lineup

Raissa Kubandi – Sr.
Megan Froats – Fr.
Allie Buchalski – Fr.
Sydney Summers – Jr.
McKinzie James – Fr.

Off the Bench: Tiran Goldstein – So., Ellie Kaplan – So., Sierra Martin – So., Molly Speese— Fr., Kylee Janousek – Jr.  

LAST YEAR: (0-0) First Season

THIS YEAR: If you glance at the roster of the Johns Creek boys basketball team, you’ll notice that several of the players came over from the varsity squads of Chattahoochee and Northview. Gladiator girls coach Barney Marchand also inherited some players from a varsity basketball squad, but not one you’re thinking of. “A lot of our players are from Autrey Mill,” says Marchand. That’s Autrey Mill as in Autrey Mill Middle School. The first-year program is littered with players who were only in eighth grade last year. Marchand will be the first person to admit that his team doesn’t have a lot of experience, “We’ve got four freshmen on the varsity and three sophomores.” One of those freshman is Allie Buchalski, who is only one month removed from winning the state cross-county championship. If the team is looking for senior leadership, it will have to come from Raissa Kubandi (pictured), the only senior on the Johns Creek roster. Marchand doesn’t expect his team to win a state championship; but he has set two very attainable goals for the season, “The main goals this year are to be competitive and to get some experience for all of the girls.”

(Editor’s note: players listed in bold are pictured)