Two opening wins have Career full of pep

By JOE PALLADINO

WATERBURY — This is not an accident. Or as captain Roderick Jenkins said, “This didn’t happen overnight.”
The Waterbury Career Academy boys basketball team made its home varsity debut Wednesday night a memorable one with a 65-48 victory over Bullard Havens Tech.
The Spartans are now 2-0, and even though two wins in two games is no reason to order up a brass band, two wins in two games is something special when you are a team without a senior class and a team with no varsity experience before Monday.
Actually, there was a band on hand Wednesday at Career. The pep band is all brass and percussion and, let me tell you, when the Career pep band plays, no one sleeps in Berkley Heights.
And yes, we do need to temper the enthusiasm. The Spartans have two victories over tech schools, although anyone will tell you that a win over Bullard Havens never comes easy.
The Spartans were superb Wednesday. They led by 39 points after three quarters before they slammed on the brakes. And they were balanced. Jenkins, a junior, led with 12 points and five steals. Matt Torres, a freshman, scored 11, and sophomore Chad McKoy was a beast on the boards with 11 rebounds to go along with nine points; 10 of those boards came in the first half. Marquan Watson added eight rebounds and Jayden Battle had a solid line with seven points, five rebounds, and four assists.
All of those numbers came in far less than three quarters of play.

 

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But what makes it interesting is that these guys are rookies, all of them. There are only three classes in the school, and everyone now has two games of varsity experience.
Rough days are ahead, to be sure. The Spartans scheduled tough. They play Wilby, Holy Cross, Torrington, Ansonia (twice), Sheehan and Bristol Central. That’s a rugged road for a Class S school.
Say, coach Ronan O’Leary, did you see 2-0 coming?
“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” O’Leary said. “No idea actually, so I am very pleased to be 2-0, but as a coach I am not totally satisfied. But I shouldn’t get too ahead of myself; 2-0, I’ll take it.”
The coach loves the work ethic and the team chemistry, and he must surely love that his guys do not look like junior varsity players trying to play up on the varsity. The Spartans look ready for this, even without a senior on the floor and with only days of varsity experience.
“There are going to be bumps in the road, and we’ll see how the team deals with that,” O’Leary added. “That’s all part of the learning curve. Hopefully, we just keep on winning and we don’t have to deal with it. We’ll see.”
Frustrated though they may be with their independent status for this first varsity season — the Spartans become full-fledged members of the Naugatuck Valley League for the 2016-17 season — there is still much to prove right now.
“When we get on that court, we let them know who we are,” Jenkins said. “We’re Spartans, and we’re going to be here for a while.”
Jenkins believes that every Career Academy victory also delivers excellent shock value.
“In the summer, there was a lot of talk, a lot of negative talk,” Jenkins said. “I was in the gym, and people didn’t believe we’d be here, and we’re here. Like Drake said, ‘Started from the bottom, now we here.’
“We go hard. We grind. We let them know who we are, WCA Spartans, and we’re going to be here for a long, long, long time.”
Send comments to jpalladino@rep-am.com, and follow on Twitter at @RAOffTheRecord.