SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

biggdowgg wrote:Portsmouth Trojans move on to the elite 8!

I know we are a little over a month since this post, but I wanted to give some props to the Portsmouth coaching staff. They made another run to the elite 8 again. What does next year look like for the Trojans?

Fine coaching staff over at PHS, we tried to get lure a few of them over to the West Side, but that did not work. 8)

The 2015-2016 Portsmouth Trojans will return 3 starters, 6-1 SR Kyre Allison, 6-3 JR Kendall Reynolds, and 6-0 SR Ethan Leonard. Two starting spots are open, which could be filled by 6-1 SO Cole Lowery, and 5-11 JR Luke Purdy. These two right now have the inside track on filling those spots, but there will be other candidates to challenge them. The Trojans' JV squad went 15-7, while the freshmen team went 10-1. 6-3, 225 LB. SO Gabe Gambill has a good shot of perhaps filling the 5 slot left open by the graduation of Alex Dickerson. Portsmouth is in need of a post player, and Gambill is one of the few in the program that could fill that role. Next year's Trojans should have a much deeper bench.

Schedule wise, the Trojans are no longer in the SEOAL, but will have 14 OVC contests with the addition of new OVC member Gallia Academy for basketball in 2015-2016. 8 non-conference games remain, including a trip to Florida for 3 games, and the Wendy's Classic, opponents TBD. The Trojans will play Chillicothe at the Shawnee State Classic, and of course will have Wheelersburg on the schedule, perhaps again in the Wendy's. I look for Coach Collins to schedule a big city school, with the loss to Eastmoor Academy in the regional final. PHS didn't have a chance to play a school like that last year in the regular season because of playing 2 league schedules (SEOAL and OVC).

Allison is on track to become Portsmouth's all time leading scorer, while Reynolds scored 89 points in 5 tournament games. Leonard shot 52% from 3 point range and 92% on FT's. Coach Eugene Collins is 106-40 at PHS in 6 years, and early next season will become the 3rd winningest coach in school history (Tom Smith is 3rd with a record of 108-35).

When it all sorts out, Portsmouth should field another very good basketball team which will challenge for the OVC title again, and another long tournament run is a real possibility.

Correction about the Trojans schedule in 2015-2016.......they will not be going to Florida this coming year, but are planning on going for the 2016-2017 season. Portsmouth will play in the Ironton Classic, opponent TBD. The complete schedule has not been finalized.

Plans for summer scrimmages include a trip up to Northwest Ohio to face Lima Central Catholic ( 2015 D3 state runnerup, 4 starters return), and a couple of other schools.

I believe Valley and Portsmouth are playing next season.

Portsmouth should have another solid season, but if the indeed move up to D2 as is being projected, they could have a tougher tournament run than the past few years.

I think many people always enjoy reading pfloyds posts/elite 8.

I'm at the convo watching Ohio vs Michigan. I love the new seats. The seats have great lower back support. They are a lot darker than the old seats.new bose speakers also

RAIDER6309 wrote:I'm at the convo watching Ohio vs Michigan. I love the new seats. The seats have great lower back support. They are a lot darker than the old seats.new bose speakers also

Good to hear! The old ones were definitely breaking down last spring.

The seats look great and the sound system has been upgraded, too. Plus, a higher comfy chair index for PFloyd and crew come tournament time.

Nice looking seats.