At home game on January 23, Caleb Rexroad goes for a lay up and George Mwesiga looks to get the board if he misses in a regular season game against Broad Run. Photo courtesy of Caleb Rexroad.
Loudoun County boys basketball had another successful season even with the challenges of the pandemic, such as a shortened season and no fans allowed at games. The Captains didn’t let that bother them, taking the season all the way to the regional finals.
The team finished 15-3 and were ranked as high as number 1 in the state for Division 4. “We had a great year,” head coach Mark Alexander said. “They really bonded and established some great relationships. We played 18 games which is a lot more than some schools got to play. We are very fortunate. We are thankful to have the opportunity to play.”
The Captains’ successful season follows last year’s nearly undefeated season of 15-2.
“This team was as competitive and disciplined as last year and both teams represented their school very well,” Alexander said.
According to Alexander, COVID actually made the team push harder and helped show the team how much they really care about the game.
“The kids were extremely flexible and adapted to the COVID migration procedures very well,” Alexander said. “Their ability to deal with the uncertainty and changes made them more successful. I would say the tough circumstances brought these guys together and actually helped us, it revealed the true character of the team and how much they cared about each other.”
“We played very well in our last game, but Handley just outplayed us in the last minute of the game,” said senior guard Caleb Rexroad. “We missed a couple critical shots which gave them the opportunity to hit the final shot and win the game.
Even though the Captains took a tough loss in the Region championship at Handley High School on a Tuesday evening, they still played their best.
“Handly played well,” Alexander said. “It was a very competitive game that could have gone either way, we just ran out of time.”
According to the Center on the team George Mwesigwa, one of the team’s main strengths was defense.
“One of our strengths this year was definitely our defense and something that made us really good on defense was our communication,” said Mwesigwa.
After they lost their first two games of the season the team made a few changes and went on a roll.
“This was an unselfish and very tough team, after an 0-2 start and a few changes, the guys ran off 15 straight wins,” Alexander said. “You don’t accomplish that unless you show character and toughness. Some guys really stepped up and accepted coaching and their roles, we called up some young guys that really stepped up and fulfilled vital roles for us as well, it was a total team effort this year.”
The Captains win back to back district titles as they defeat Dominion Titans 58-42. Photo Credit: lchs_captains Instagram Page.
On February 6, the Captains defeated the Dominion Titans 58-42 as they claimed the District Title back to back years. The Captains had help from Junior Guard Brendon Boyers and Junior Forward George Mwesigwa. Boyers scored 15 points and 5 rebounds. Mwesigwa scored 13 points and 7 rebounds.
“Dominion is a very good defensive team,” Boyers said. “I feel like we run a good offensive set. We know what we want to do with the ball every time we get the ball and succeed in high pressure situations and clutch moments.”
The Captains were riding a wave of confidence going into the District Championship game. They started their season 0-2 and haven’t looked back since, entering the game on a 13 game win streak.
“I think the win streak worked both ways for us,” Loudoun County Head Coach Mark Alexander said. “Losing those first to games was a big eye opener for us. I just let them know that we have to keep on grinding. I had to keep them confident and have them focus on what we need to do on offense and defense to be successful.”
“Our confidence has definitely been a big factor in our play,” Boyers said. “With a 14 game streak now it has definitely helped our play and how we enter games.”
The Captains outrebounded the Titans by six rebounds. This allowed the Captains to capitalize on second chance points which put them in a better position on offense.
“It didn’t start out that way though,” Alexander said. “We started to pick it up and got some good rotations. We got more physical as the game went on which worked in our favor.”
This win was a great team with many players getting involved. Multiple players had good games. Those players include Sophomore Guard Jack West with 6 points, Senior Guard Caleb Rexroad with 7 points, and Junior Guard Jimmy Daughtry with 10 points.
“It was our goal going into the game to get multiple players involved,” Coach Alexander said. “With the masks you lose a bit of your conditioning, so we wanted to play more guys. We are very happy with how our guys stepped up when we needed them to.”
Jenny Allen works on her defense during the home game against Lightridge. This is County’s third game of the season, and the players are slowly getting used to the mask mandate. The girls won this match with a score of 58 to 16.
The girl’s varsity basketball team is among the first major teams to start the season during the pandemic. The team has been very successful throughout previous years and is full of dedicated fans, coaches, and players. They are learning to follow brand new regulations in order to ensure their safety and it is up to them to become used to this new way of playing.
During their offseason, the team practiced outside on the tennis courts while remaining socially distanced. They also worked out in smaller groups instead of one huge group. These groups were known as workout “pods” and were used in case someone were to get infected, so they wouldn’t infect the whole team.
“The big thing I think our girls did really well this offseason was understanding the protocols we had to take during each workout such as; having to wear masks, keep physical distance, and limit and adapt different basketball drills,” said Varsity coach Austin Campbell.
Unfortunately, the team has lost a handful of players, as several chose not to play this season due to the pandemic. “I understand they need to do what’s best for them and their family. What I’m really excited about is the group we have returning this year,” Campbell said.
The number of games has also been shortened. The team went from twenty two games a season to only sixteen. They will play roughly three games a week and fans are not permitted to come and watch.
The players are saddened to know that their supporters will not be able to watch them play in person. “It’s hard to know we won’t have any spectators because it’s my senior year and so this is the last time they will see me play,” senior Tess McMullen said.
Instead, the school put in cameras so that people can still watch the games live as if they were there. However, it is very different from what they are used to. Anyone can watch these games, but they have to pay monthly subscriptions in order to do so.
“This season we will not start the games with a jump ball, and when we are sitting on the bench everyone will have to spread out, we also don’t have locker rooms, so half time will also look different,” junior Jenny Allen said. Players will also be required to wear masks during the entirety of games and practices according to VHSL rules. However, these rules can be subject to change.
Despite these challenges, McMullen is still excited for the upcoming season and what it holds. “Tryouts went really well, and I think we will have a fairly strong team,” McMullen said, “This season will look different because we will be a more athletic team with decent incoming freshmen.”
Allen and McMullen are both returning players on Varsity. “Every player on the team adds something to the team to make us feel like a team and I’m excited to see how we play, and to have a fun season with everyone,” Allen said.
Tryouts were three days this season and cuts will be made right after. “A new thing this year I plan on doing is filming the tryouts, that way I can ensure I didn’t miss anything when evaluating our players,” Campbell said.
Campbell is very proud of his team and the way they are handling this situation. “This group has done a tremendous job of adjusting and adapting to the new changing rules and guidelines we have. They’ve really done a great job of working on their game outside of our practices.”
Although players are still worried about COVID, these rules will help limit their exposure and make it a safer environment to play their sport. “I think our County has laid out a safe and effective plan for us to be able to have a season,” Campbell said, “There will always be some concerns, we just have to all remember we’re in this together and to do our part.”
Allen is hopeful that all of her fellow teammates as well as herself stay healthy and safe during the season. “I really hope that our season will stay in place and we get to have all of our games and activities,” Allen said.
“I’m very excited for this upcoming season. I think the seniors deserve to have this final season and all the girls have put in a tremendous amount of work and sacrifices to make this happen. I think if we continue to take care of the little things and compete, we could have a fun and exciting season,” Campbell said.
Caleb Rexroad flies in for a layup in the first quarter of the state quarterfinals ve George Washington. After a Summer affected by a pandemic Caleb Rexroad found new ways to prepare for the upcoming year. Photo courtesy of John Klimavicz.
Senior Guard Caleb Rexroad was coming off one of the then-Raiders’ best seasons ever. He helped the team reach the state quarterfinals while earning all conference honors just before Loudoun County Public Schools closed to in-person learning, and before VHSL made the decision to cancel spring sports.
The team ended with a historic season as they won the district championship and performed well in the state playoffs. Rexroad credits some of the team’s performance to Loudoun County’s student section, ranked No. 1 in the district. Not only did the student section hype up the team, they also got in the visiting team’s heads and threw them off their game.
“We do feed off the crowd and had the best student section last year,” Rexroad said. “This season will be very different from last year because there won’t be the same atmosphere as if there were fans there. We are practicing locking in and not focusing on no fans or fans. We will need to feed off each other since there won’t be a crowd.”
Many basketball players have resorted to paying to play travel over the summer to fulfill their basketball cravings. Rexroad and fellow senior forward Nate Brown are no exception.
“This summer I played on a team with Nate Brown and we were on a prep team that went to many tournaments to further our college recruitment process,” Rexroad said. “The biggest tournament we played in was a National Tournament in Myrtle Beach. We also went up to Philadelphia and went undefeated there.”
Rexroad hopes to channel his summer experience into the upcoming season. The Captains lost many seniors that were key parts in their scheme on offence and on defence. This season County will have to lean on the rising juniors to contribute more to the team. Some of the juniors have had varsity experience and some haven’t yet.
“Last year the seniors were a big part of our success,” Rexroad said. “We have a solid core of guys coming back. Between the returning starters and the experience of some of the juniors, we are all excited for this season. I believe that the juniors are all ready to step up.”
Rexroad expects big things this season. He also hopes the County team can ride off the accomplishments of last season and have a great year no matter how long the season is,
“I expect to grow a lot as a player,” Rexroad said. “ I mean, we had two of the best offensive players in potentially the state in Matt Anderson and Mark Siegal last year. I was kind of that third option, which I accepted because we had those two guys. But this year I really expect to make a pretty big jump, and hopefully All Conferences which I definitely want to get again. But even All Region and All States. I’m looking to go up into those tiers even with the shortened season.”
Rexroad is a hard worker. In a non-COVID-19 year he would have been working with his trainer four or five times a week. He would have been lifting and playing pickup with friends nearly everyday. He also would have had travel games every weekend. However when the pandemic hit he had to change up his approach to training.
“I worked hard in the offseason on strength, conditioning and getting my weight up. I ended last season at 158 pounds and during this quarantine have gotten myself up to 170 pounds,” Rexroad said. “My basketball workouts consisted of stationary shots and doing every drill 100% as if I was in an actual game.”
The first few months after school shut down, Rexroad spent time shooting in his driveway. “ I would just go outside and work on set shots and dribbling a heavy ball,” he said. “Just trying to improve my form a little bit from last year to this year.”
To condition, Rexroad frequently ran at six every morning, followed by pushups, situps, and pull ups. “It was all basically bodyweight stuff …as much as I could get in,” Rexroad said.
It’s no wonder Rexroad is so dedicated even during the pandemic. His passion for basketball started at an early age.
“I started playing basketball when I was about three or four,” said Rexroad, whose father played in college and introduced him to the game. I played upward for a couple of years and when I first started I wasn’t that into basketball. As a child I was more into baseball until I went to middle school and then I got tired of baseball.”
Once Rexroad hit middle school he started to focus on baseball and continued to work on his game.
“I started to focus more on basketball and training four to five days a week,” Rexroad said. “This was the point in my life where I fell in love with basketball. This is where I also started to see some development in my game.”
Rexroad came into high school with high hopes of playing basketball. He had a great tryout and was able to make it on varsity as a freshman, which was a huge accomplishment for him.
“When I got onto varsity as a freshman that is when I figured out that I had decent abilities in basketball,” Rexroad said.Though he didn’t play much as a freshman, he played more as the years progressed. “Then, last year was my best year as I made All Conference for the first time,” Rexroad said.
Although the team has changed a lot over the course of his time at County, they will still have the same goal in mind, playing at a high level and making another state playoff run.
“This season even with all the changes in players and all the new juniors joining the team I believe that County basketball is here to stay and we will make a good run for the playoffs again,” Rexroad said.
Check out the Captain’s Chronicle podcast featuring Caleb Rexroad:
