During the summer Waldron hired a new head Junior high boys coach in Zak Terwilliger. Coach Terwilliger, also known as Coach Twigs, graduated from Mena High School in 2016 and received his bachelor’s degree from Henderson State in 2020. Coach Twigs was eager to get on the hardwood and show his new Waldron community what his team was all about.
The Junior Bulldogs opened their season against the Caddo Hills Indians. The starting lineup for the dogs consisted of Keegan Lynch, Caden Hunt, Cole Bailey, Roky Avila, and Aiden Allen. The Dogs easily outmatched the Indians and won convincingly with the final score of 42-18. Freshman Keegan Lynch forced multiple turnovers which led to easy transition layups. Their next opponent, the Fountain Lake Cobras, put up more of a fight. Waldron was able to squeak by with a 1-point win of 34-33. The twin tower interior duo of Roky Avila and Aden Allen blocked a lot of shots around the rim and gobbled up every rebound.
Coming off back-to-back wins the Bulldogs would travel to Mansfield to face the Tigers. Coach Twigs said that in this game, “We could not buy a bucket.” The Tigers, on the other hand, were hot from the three-point line. Even through the poor shooting night, Waldron was still able to make a game out of it with the final outcome being 34-29 in favor of the Tigers.
The following evening the Bulldogs would travel to Ozark to compete in the PBJI tournament against the Pottsville Apaches. Pottsville had an exceptionally good team, but the Dogs still managed to compete and make the game competitive until the 4th quarter. With it being the third night in the row the Dogs had played, they just simply ran out of gas. The final score did not show how close the game was.
Coach Twigs had this to say following his first week of being the Junior High coach and his team’s 2-2 start. “Overall I am excited for them, I think the team and I learned what we do well and what we need to improve on. They play really hard and are falling in love with the game which is important in building a team to win games.”
The Bulldogs next Junior High matchup will be against the Magazine Rattlers on November 16th in the WAC. Junior girls will kick off the action at 4:30 followed by Junior boys, Senior girls, and Senior boys.
