Fort Fairfield Tigers Let The Good Times Roll Into the Playoffs

Fort Fairfield, Maine (WAGM) -The Fort Fairfield Tigers Might not have started the season off the way they wanted, but they are hitting their stride now. Their shots are starting to fall, and the defense has been smothering. They have also done a good job of keeping games close, a trait important to have when the tournament rolls around. Jonathon Eigenmann has the story.

Vaughn McLaughlin:” The Kids have been real good at game preparation, so we spent alot of time analyzing what other teams that were playing, and trying to come up with a game plan. Some of those close games we haven’t done as well at the end of ball games where we didn’t close things out and were still learning, were still learning the game. I guess our greatest weakness has been turnovers, we turn the ball over way too many times during the game, but its getting better”.

The tigers continue to emerge as a team to beat with each and every game. While there is much this team can hang their hat on, their performance on the floor is something they’ve improved on throughout the season.

Joel Cormier:” One of the big ones is our defensive intensity and then another one would be our approach to the game, like a big thing is like, you approach every game like it can be your last game, so you want to keep that intensity, mentally”.

Blake Senal:” At the start of the season, no one was hitting any shots, outside or inside. We’ve gotten better, every game and our defense, our team defense , like getting the help, knowing when to switch when not to switch, stuff like that”.

Every season, there’s always a chance of injuries that can really make or break a teams season. According to coach Vaughn McLaughlin, the sudden loss of the players really shook up lineup but at the same time, showed the depth of skill on their team.

Vaughn McLaughlin:” without those two players, the makeup of the team changed. So we had to adjust the way we play the game, we still try to up-tempo it, we still play great defense but we’ve had to put ourselves in positions where were good in the half-court as well and that’s going to be a real key for us in the tournament”.

Joel Cormier:” I think the starters being; or the, yeah two players being out was a big one, but since we had those other players step up, its given us more depth in our team so we know we can go deeper into the bench when we need to”.

Anybody knows, whether its the atmosphere or the play on the court, there’s nothing like tournament time. and as the tigers take the court at the cross insurance center, they got to make sure to play their game.

Vaughn McLaughlin:” Biggest thing in the tournament is not to pump kids up but to settle them, they got to be able to settle their minds and sit down and play the the game their capable of playing, usually that means you ramp up the thing on defense and you know get a good sweat going, and try to settle yourself on offense so that your not; everything gets sped up, and you feel like your in a hurry all the time, its not hard to motivate kids to play in the tournament setting, its more difficult to to get them to settle themselves down”.

With any tournament being a realm of unpredictable outcomes, The Fort Fairfield boys put themselves in a good position to do some real damage in this upcoming tournament.

Jonathon Eigenmann, Newssource sports.

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