After posting a 24-9 record and capturing the regular season District 9A title in 2011, the Forrest Rockets won 19 games and lost 12 in 2012, but slipped to a third place finish in league play last season under head coach Wes Hobbs, who will enter his third season as head coach in Chapel Hill.

"We had a really good season and that went back to good senior leadership, who led by example," said Hobbs. "We had some great wins, beat some really good teams, but then again, we were a little inconsistent at times and we would lose one that made me mad too. Overall, you can never be upset with that kind of season and all the guys played really hard last year."

The Rockets lose four important cogs and a ton of points and rebounds in Mark Pope, Tyler Rumley, Zach Horvath, and Dakota Zimmerman.

"We lost four senior starters who played a lot of minutes over their careers here," said Hobbs. "What they did was make the other kids work hard in practice and I think there are guys ready here now that can take their place."

New leaders

Hobbs is fortunate because he has five seniors to take on those leadership roles in Ty Hoeft, Jacob Daughrity, Lucas Pruitt, Kennedy Mathis, and Caleb Keller.

All five played a lot last season and as they learn their roles and get some battle bruises, the Rockets should be in great shape as the season progresses towards the New Year.

"Our district is very even again and will be as tough as always," said Hobbs. "You can't take a night off and I think anybody can beat anybody again this year."

The junior class is a deep group as well with Blake Leonard, Will Edmondson, Colton Cook, Caleb Hogan, Tanner Roberson, and Jake Townsend.

Long-range

Edmondson will be an integral part of the Rockets' resurgence, becoming one of the main long-range shooters, along with Hoeft, Daughrity, and Keller.

"Will, Ty, and Jacob are scorers by nature, but they also like to drive the ball to the basket and I can see Lucas and Blake having a good season as well in the low post," said Hobbs. "We are hoping as we get the post-game working, those guys can come on and take over the three-point shooting that has been a staple here for a long time."

Low post

Look for Leonard to have a big season this year, sharing post time with Lucas Pruitt, Townsend, and Roberson as the Rockets convert from mainly a fast break three-point shooting team to a grind it out low post squad.

"In the past of years we have had really good shooters which made us more up-tempo and little more perimeter oriented, but this year Lucas, Leonard, Mathis, and Townsend will be asked to take a bigger role in the offense as we look to get in the half court some and get the ball inside," said Hobbs. "And as we do that it will open up our guards so they can step up and shoot. I think starting out we will have to look for players who want to score that have not been asked to do that in the past, but we have enough guys very capable of taking on that scoring role."

Young talent

Sophomores Gary Lukonen, David Andrews, Hawken King, Jesse Pruitt, and Noah Rumley will be battling for court time with a freshman class that includes the talented Jacob Jones and Austin Bailey.

"Some people may call this re-building, but what we do here every year is try to re-establish roles, re-establish leaders and several of the guys here played crucial roles last year and played some of those tough minutes and I think it will be fun to see guys rise to the occasion," said Hobbs.

Early on, Hobbs may be short a few players, who are battling in the football playoffs and may not be back for a while if the Rockets keep advancing on the gridiron.

Daughrity, Leonard, Andrews, Jones, and Jesse Pruitt are all on the football team.

"All the football guys are having a great year and we hope they continue winning, so we don't get them back until December, after the state championship game," said Hobbs.

Tough District

It will be tough to unseat the defending district champions MTCS Cougars, who bring back their entire starting unit minus one and Community, Eagleville, and the young Fayetteville squad will be tough as well.

"I tell the guys all the time, this district is a brutal grind and our goal has to be to finish in the top half of the district so we can get a good seed in the tournament," said Hobbs. "What I want to see is for our guys to compete hard, have a good work ethic, and be strong every night. What we have to do is do a better job of taking care of business in the district tournament, so we just have to stay focused every night, because it will be long grind just to get there."

Forrest Rockets Roster

Head Coach-Wes Hobbs

Assistant-Randy Toombs

No. Name Grade

00 Kennedy Mathis 12

2 Noah Rumley 10

4 Jesse Pruitt 10

10 Gary Lukonen 10

11 Hawken King 10

12 Caleb Keller 12

14 Ty Hoeft 12

15 Austin Bailey 9

20 Jacob Jones 9

22 Colton Cook 11

24 Will Edmondson 11

30 Jacob Daughrity 12

32 Blake Leonard 11

34 Caleb Hogan 11

40 Tanner Roberson 11

42 Lucas Pruitt 12

44 David Andrews 10

52 Jake Townsend 11