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Tornadoes show improvement on court

Posted on 18 January 2018 by LeslieM

By Gary Curreri

The first thing on Pompano Beach High School boys’ basketball coach James Stone’s bucket list was to win a game.

Check!

The Tornadoes were coming off an 0-21 (2016-17) season and lost the final game in the 2015-16 season when they finished 5-16. Pompano Beach dropped their first eight games of the 2017-18 campaign before a 72-65 victory against host Plantation on Dec. 14 snapped a 30-game losing streak. The team was 5-16 and 4-16 the two years prior to that.

My biggest priority was to get a win after they went 0-21 last year,” said Stone, who moved up from the junior varsity team after a year with the Tornadoes and a year at Coral Springs Charter School. It is his first varsity head coaching job.

I told them to act like we won before (after beating Plantation) so we got on the bus and we had one guy, Conrad (Bennett), he’s a sophomore so he was about to cry,” Stone said. “He was on the team last year and he said, ‘coach that was my first win as a Pompano basketball player.’ It was a big moment for me to get him his first win.”

Pompano Beach (4-9) defeated a team from Australia in the Deerfield Beach Holiday Tournament in an exhibition game and that has sparked the team to back-to-back wins over Cardinal Gibbons (60-56) and Coconut Creek (57-55). Pompano Beach travels to play at Hallandale on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

That was a big tournament for us because last year they didn’t win a game,” Stone said. “This was a good confidence builder for them this year. It was a great experience for us to play against a team from Australia.”

Stone said he has a junior oriented team, with eight juniors and three seniors. Senior Andre Francis leads the team with 16 points and 10 rebounds a game and Stone also said he’s received solid play from the following juniors — Cedric Camper, Braxton McMillon, Takobe Clark, Brandon Peets and Tristen Anderson.

Stone said the team is buying into his philosophy.

They keep their composure,” Stone said. “They are a very composed group of guys. They don’t get rattled when they go down.”

There has been little adjustment in becoming head coach.

There really hasn’t been too much of an adjustment since most of these guys came up with me from the JV,” Stone said. “The transitions are easy since they already knew the system. The ones who played on the varsity last year, those are the ones that had to buy into the system.”

Knowing that all but three players will return next year has Stone excited.

Having the core coming back is great,” Stone said. “I wanted this to be a building year and next year I would have had my guys together for three years, so next year I am looking to turn it around. I want to go far in the district and make the (BCAA) Big 8 tournament.

They can be a great team,” Stone continued. “Sometimes they get into the ‘I’ basketball and they want to be the guy to carry the team and I tell them it is a team sport. If I can get them to focus on team and play hard and fight for all 32 minutes, we’ll be alright.”

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Tornadoes fall to Hills, 51-27

Posted on 28 September 2017 by LeslieM

By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach coach Melvin Jones knew it would be a tough road in his first stint as a varsity football head coach, especially with the schedule he’s faced.

Pompano Beach (0-3), which entered the game having been outscored 92-6 this season, kept pace in the early going of its most recent game against Hollywood Hills.

The season obviously hasn’t gone according to plan, but I know what I was getting into,” said Jones, whose team opened with a 53-0 loss to Monarch and a 39-6 defeat at the hands of John Carroll Catholic. “I was just trying to change the culture and get kids to understand football and the fundamentals and to be able to line up and that is what we have been trying to accomplish.”

His team was also part of history on Friday night when Hollywood Hills junior quarterback Holly Neher became the first female quarterback to start a varsity football game in Broward County, and possibly the nation.

Neher started the team’s 51-27 win over Pompano Beach High School at Cooper City High School and was perfect on her first five passes in the first quarter for 126 yards. She led the Spartans to two first half scores, including a 67-yard pitch and catch to senior receiver Alexander Shelton.

The Tornadoes trimmed the early deficit to 13-7 on a 61-yard run from senior Brian Campbell.

Hills freshman Emile Bien-Aime made it 20-7 on a 65-yard scoring toss to Shelton before Pompano Beach’s senior Andrew Putney connected with senior Andre Francis to pull within 20-13. It was the closest Pompano Beach would get the rest of the night.

We are just trying to get better each day,” Jones said. “I expect to get better each day. I expect them to learn more as they watch the film and being with us. They will get an understating about what football is all about.”

There was optimism following the Golden Tornadoes’ kickoff classic game against St. John Paul II Academy – a 36-34 setback – and Jones said the two schools are similar in size and mirror each other.

They are in an independent league and we were in that league, but now we are playing with the big boys.

I knew what we are in for,” Jones said. “We are looking forward to the challenges ahead.”

Jones said he has received strong play this season from Putney, Campbell and Jalal Jean-Charles.

A lot of our guys go both ways,” Jones said, “so they are doing good things on both sides of the ball.”

Tigers notch first victory

Blanche Ely picked up its first victory of the season thanks to a little trickery on the first play from scrimmage in its game against host Boyd Anderson.

On the first play, the Tigers (1-2) lined up two quarterbacks, both Yanez Rogers and James Wallace, in the backfield. Rogers handled the snap from center and pitched the ball to Wallace, who rolled to his left and launched a 73-yard scoring toss to a wide-open Dennis Pete for a 6-0 lead.

Boyd Anderson (1-2) answered on its opening possession as sophomore quarterback Hansy Colas connected with Johnny King on a 15-yard touchdown pass to tie it at 6 on the final play of the first quarter.

Blanche Ely converted a special teams miscue early in the fourth quarter to go up 12-6. Boyd Anderson, facing fourth down, attempted to get off a punt, however, the snap sailed over the punter’s head and the Tigers got the ball on the Cobras’ 14.

Three plays later, Rogers hit Pete for a 10-yard TD pass for a 12-6 lead. After Blanche Ely conceded a safety, the Cobras had one last chance, however, the Tigers picked off Cobras in the final minute to escape with the 12-8 win.

The Tigers opened the season with losses to Stranahan and Plantation.

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