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Fort Dorchester athletics looking to build on solid year

By David Shelton

Staff Writer

North Charleston – The 2009-10 school year was a championship year for Fort Dorchester High School athletics.

Fort Dorchester captured a pair of state titles last school year, winning the state wrestling crown in February and taking the boy’s state AAAA title in track in May.

The boy’s basketball team made another strong run in the AAAA playoffs as well before coming up just a little short at the end.

All in all, athletic director Steve LaPrad sees plenty of positives to build upon in the coming year.

“We had a good year overall but we’re always striving to do better in all of our sports,” said LaPrad, who doubles as the school’s head football coach. “We’re always trying to find ways to improve, just like everyone else. It gets tougher every year. With the way things are economically, everyone is struggling to find new ways to help the kids compete.”

LaPrad lost two assistant football coaches from last year’s staff but will likely not fill the open positions. He says there will be a new girls soccer coach hired and has named Tarshie Burrell as the new volleyball coach.

The rest of last year’s coaching roster will return for the 2010-11 school year.

Leon Wheaton will be back for his third season as the boy’s basketball coach while Valarie Reese will return as the girl’s basketball coach. Jack Radcliffe returns as the head baseball coach.

Thane Williams is the boy’s cross country coach and Elizabeth Hedges coaches the girl’s cross country team. Fred Hamilton, the AAAA boy’s track Coach of the Year this past spring, will return in his role while Jamie Tyler is back as the head girl’s track coach.

Veteran coach Tom Wilson returns as the boys and girls golf coach and Rick Nobbs will return to coach boys soccer. Jason May is the swim coach and Mittie Asbury is the boys and girls tennis coach.

B.D. LaPrad is the returning wrestling coach and Shea Russell is the softball coach. Tamara Cheatham is the cheerleading coach and Jimmy Rogers returns as the athletic trainer.

On LaPrad’s football staff, returning coaches include Ian Rafferty, Bennett Swygert, Wheaton, Hamilton, Brent LaPrad, Jamie Tyler and Jack Radcliffe.

 

 

March.
"Our goal is to finish the job this year," said Wheaton. "We had a great summer and offseason work program and this team has come into the season with good focus and good intensity so far. After the season we had last year, the expectations are very high here. We have to understand that after the season we had last year, we know that everyone we play will bring their A game. Our players have to be able to elevate their play even higher if we hope to achieve our goals."
Fort Dorchester is off to a 5-0 start this season and appears to be clicking on all cylinders, despite the fact that a few players were involved in football. Wheaton has three returning starters and more depth than he had to work with last year.
The biggest returning starter is 6-8 senior small forward R.J. Slawson, who has signed to play at South Carolina next season. Slawson averaged 19.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and nearly three blocks per game as a junior. He is averaging more than 22 points per game early on this season.
"He's a complete game changer and when he's on the floor, we are difficult to defend," said Wheaton. "He has worked really hard to become a better player and it shows early on."
Senior Laurez Matthews returns as a starting guard.
"He just plays hard all of the time," said Wheaton. "He can do a lot of things for us. He can score and he can defend. He's a very tough kid and he loves to compete."
Corey Wright (6-2) returns at a forward and is one of the team's more valuable players because of the little things he does on a court, says Wheaton.
"He does things that people don't see in the stat box," said the coach. "He can score inside and he usually guards the other team's best player. He's a really valuable piece of the puzzle."
Sophomores Rodney Gibbs and Bradley Frazier are moving into starting roles and key reserve roles. Gibbs is a 6-2 swing man that can rebound and score. Frazier will run a lot of point guard this season. Both players saw extensive playing time as freshmen.
"We need those guys to play well and to contribute," said Wheaton. "They're the future of the program and we want them to start being key players right now."
Marcus Bowdry is a transfer from Georgia and has seen immediate early playing time as a starter.
"We have a good basketball team, if we work really hard. We won't be given anything. The region we play in and the lower state, it's really tough," said Wheaton. "We have to understand we were close last year but we're not there yet. I think we're still a hungry team and we have to use that hunger to make us better everyday in practice.
"We have to outwork every team we play. We might play teams with better shooters or maybe they're quicker than we are, but we're not going to let any team out-work us. If we stay disciplined and focused on that attitude, we can do some great things."