DRY FORK, Va. – Success at Tunstall High School has been three years in the making for Head Coach DeMarcus Morrison.
“Our motto is just season of love, and I think this team is just so tight together, they do everything together, you know, with the community being on board, I think it’s a special group and I think it’s showing right now,” Morrison said.
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The Trojans’ namesake couldn’t be more true. After three straight winning seasons, and only one loss on the schedule this year, they aren’t fooling anyone anymore.
“We stick together, our chemistry is high, so we already know what each other will do, so we just go on the court,” senior Jamarcus Brown said.
The downhill catch-and-shoot attack, hidden behind the disguise of a trap defense, has left opponents in the dust.
“We’re a pressure defensive team,” Morrison added. “We really take it away with strength of the other team. Also, we’re a very high-paced team, get up and down the court.”
But the true conquest has been in the classroom.
“Each year we’ve raised the bar up on our GPA. Last year was 3.2, this year we raise it up to 3.5. We finished the first half of the year at a 3.6 GPA,” Morrison said.
“It’s very important because in order to be able to play, you have to be a student-athlete,” senior Jaylin Edmonds said. “You can’t fail and be able to play basketball.”
The back-to-back Piedmont District champions are heading into battle in search of their third straight, and the Trojans are ready for all the postseason brings.
“This time of year we want to get back to having what we call a dog mentality,” Morrison said. “We want to understand that district championships, this will be our third one in a row that we’ve won, but we haven’t excelled to the next level yet. We want to get into the region, win the region, get into the state, and actually come home with rings.”