Boys and Girls basketball at Jackson-Milton High School are two successful and fun sports. Many kids go out for this sport. It is good for your health and great exercise. You learn great leadership, the fundamentals of the game, and experience being a family.

Boys basketball so far has been great. During the summer, the boys summer team went down to Pittsburgh to play in a weekend tournament. There were many teams there, and it was a great experience.

Girls basketball also participated in summer basketball, they won a tournament in Norton High School. The team played fantastically, they won back to back games winning by buzzer beaters. They only had 6 girls, so they had to play especially hard.

Steve Procopio is the Boys Basketball coach. He said, “We are expecting contributions from many players this season and believe we will have a very deep team. Some newcomers to the varsity team this year will be Juniors Paul Bortz, David Vega, and Jimmy Harper. From the sophomore class we expect Joey Williams and Robbie Butler to provide us with some quality minutes. We also have high expectations from our freshman class and some of them are working to earn varsity minutes as well.”

Procopio also added, “With the hunger and desire to be great, this team can be very special and I am excited to see what they do on the hardwood this year.”

The boys are excited for the season and hope to have an awesome outcome as the games begin. 

Junior Paul Bortz said, “I am very excited for the season, we’re going to do very well this year because of the new players we have coming out and we have very good coaches.”

4 year player Taylor Kleincknect said, “I am super excited for the season, it should be a very good year. I am excited to play with my other senior teammates, John French and Guy Costello.”

The boys are excited to work hard at practice and during their games so then they can have a good outcome during the season. Many of the boys say that basketball is their favorite sport because the boys get along like a family and they always have each others back.

As you can see, the Boys Varsity Team is expecting big things.

As for the girls, Pat Keney also has high expectations. He states, “I’m quite excited, we have a group of girls that are on a mission, we have three seniors this year that will be leading the team. We are working hard every day to improve and be ready for the season.”

After a 23-3 season last year, the Jackson-Milton girl’s basketball team has a lot to live up to this upcoming season. Seniors; Michaelina Terranova, Emily Williams and Haley Lengyel have been pushing the girls through practices and scrimmages.

“We are all working towards a common goal,” junior Ashley Cameron states.

Scrimmages such as, Grand Valley, Minerva, and West Branch has pushed the limits of each and every player.

“After losing the twins, we had to re-learn our strengths and weaknesses as a team,” sophomore Abby Spalding said.

“We can’t rely on the twins anymore for scoring our points, we have to step up,” sophomore Courtney Mercer said.

The Lady Jays first game was away at Lordstown on November 27th. The varsity won 64-29. Please come support the team. The fans help motivate them, showing them that people support them  and love to watch them. Thank you to all the supporters of both basketball teams.

As you can see, both the Boys and Girls Basketball Teams are looking for a successful year.