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North senior De'Shawn Dowdy is not playing basketball this season for the Vikings, who are stuck in 28-game losing streak. He is instead focusing on his football career after committing to play at the University of Cincinnati.
It has been a rough couple of years for the North boys basketball team, as the Vikings are in the midst of a 28-game losing streak. But coach Mike Williams believes their next victory is just around the corner.
Losses in the early season that were in the 50 to 70-point range are gone. The last three losses by North were by 9, 27 and 24 points.
North’s last game was against Highland on Dec. 20. The Vikings played Highland even until the final four minutes of the first half when the Hornets went on a 12-0 run and won 61-37.
“We’re doing a whole lot better than we were earlier in the season,” Williams said. “My goal is to keep everyone enthused. I tell the guys not to get frustrated, to show positive energy.”
Williams said he’s dealing with a very young team.
“We have a lot of football players on the team and a number of guys who have never played varsity basketball,” Williams said.
De’Shawn Dowdy’s presence would have helped the Vikings even more. But the 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior center is concentrating on his upcoming college football career after verbally committing to play for the University of Cincinnati.
“Vince Lombardi once said both winning and losing are contagious,” Williams said. “I’m looking forward to curing the losing illness.”
THE WINTER BREAK
City Series basketball coaches showed different philosophies during the winter break with their teams. Between Dec. 19 and Jan. 2 girls teams from East, Garfield and Kenmore have no games scheduled. North and Firestone had one game scheduled, while Buchtel had two and Ellet three.
Kenmore head coach Yontami Jones said she was “a little scared” at the idea of giving her team so much time off. But the Cardinals will make up for it in a big hurry. Kenmore will have five games in eight days between Jan.4 and Jan. 12. Three of those games will be against Hoover, Firestone and St. Vincent-St. Mary.
BOYS BASKETBALL OUTLOOK
At the quarter pole of the boys City Series basketball race, East, Firestone and Kenmore are undefeated. Defending champion Buchtel has one loss. What does it mean? The City Series race is wide-open and you can make a case for any one of those four teams to win it all. The real winners in all this will be the fans.
DIVING IN
It has been a quite a week for the Firestone swim team. Following the “Alumni Meet” this past Monday (Dec. 26), the Falcons will be back in the pool on Friday (Dec. 30) against Hoover at the North Canton YMCA.