Concord has a good chance to make a run deep into the 1A State Tournament with its senior high team this season, which features seniors Tim Fuller, Chase Thomas and Derek Burnett.
If the Pirates come up short of their goals, Coach Keith Cornett won’t have long to wait for another shot, because he has plenty of talent waiting in the wings. His Junior Pirates amassed an amazing record of 24-0 this season while competing against teams in higher classifications in many instances.
On their way to an undefeated season, the Jr. Pirates captured the Greers Ferry Lake Classic, Julian Martin Classic, 1A-2 South Conference crown and 1A-2 South District Tournament championship with very little trouble besides a couple of very close games against West Side in the finals two weeks of the season.
Folks in the area are fortunate this battle of Cleburne County conference foes will continue for at least the next few years. However, the Jr. Pirates’ leading scorer Jacob Roark is only an eight-grader, meaning Cornett has several options with his spectacular guard next season.
Roark, who can score off the dribble and finish in traffic with the best of any junior high player in the area, could compete as a junior high player next season then move up to senior high for postseason play. But he seems almost too talented to not play for the senior Pirates next season, especially since they are losing several seniors after this season. Roark scored 37 points in the Jr. Pirates’ 60-54 victory over West Side in the 1A-2 South District Tournament in Greers Ferry, which capped their undefeated season.
Three talented players that are moving up for sure from this unbeaten team are ninth graders Ryan Cornelison, AJ Cannon and Cameron Reesor. Cornelison seemed to grow a foot between his eighth and ninth grade seasons, becoming the Jr. Pirates second leading scorer. Ryan was already a dead-on 3-point shooter but his added height has helped him develop into an all-around player.
If teams focused too much on Roark, the talented guard simply found Cornelison, who was also capable of leading the Jr. Pirates in scoring any given night.
But undefeated teams don’t rely on two players. Reesor gave Concord another deadly 3-point shooter while Cannon helped post mate Ethan Hebert control the glass and both got plenty of stick backs.
Depth was another key factor, which is hard to find at many of the smaller schools. Concord had Luke Cornett coming off the bench and he is capable of lighting it up from beyond the arc while providing quickness on defense, which was a staple of the Jr. Pirates’ play.
Post player Hance Bowman did a tremendous job of giving Hebert and Cannon breathers. In fact, he could have probably started for most teams in the area. The younger Chase Thomas, Jaylynn Bradford, Tyler Thompson and Joel Jones also provided depth, which Concord will need again in the seasons to come.
This group of Pirates could take a while to get acclimated to senior high basketball, but they are sure to grow and could become state champions sooner than later.
(Will Gilbert is sports editor for The Sun-Times. Send comments to sports@thesuntimes.com)
Concord, Ark. —
