[READ ARTICLE IN THE WASHINGTON POST]
Losing can affect teams in various ways, depending on its regularity. One loss can galvanize a team and make it stronger. A couple losses here and there can keep a team humble and teach it to get better. Persistent losing, though, can deflate a locker room, sapping the air out of players’ lungs and extinguishing hope.
Stonewall Jackson senior Keaton Simmons knows that dejection all too well. Now considered one the most lethal point guards in Virginia, Simmons endured a 7-14 campaign during his first season on the varsity squad as a sophomore, then guided his team to an 11-11 mark that ended with a demoralizing loss to Fairfax in the opening round of the 6A North region tournament last season.
One year later, Simmons and company feel an entirely different energy in the Stonewall locker room. The Raiders are 9-1, fresh off an unbeaten showing at the L.C. Bird Holiday Hoops tournament in Richmond. A win over Battlefield Tuesday would equal their best start in program history.
“Everybody’s more energetic now,” Simmons said. “We’re winning, and we’re trying to keep that energy going and not lose focus.” Continue reading Keaton Simmons drives Stonewall Jackson boys’ basketball to 9-1 start