Alex Frank is going to be one busy man for the next couple of months.
Frank is doing rare double duty coaching both the boys and girls’ basketball teams at Anzar High this season.
“It can get crazy at times, but fortunately everything worked out this year where all of our games are doubleheaders,” said Frank, who is in his second year coaching the boys and first with the girls. “I also got lucky in that I’ve got a pretty good group of kids, so I don’t have to be on them 24/7.”
Frank wasn’t planning on coaching the girls, but when Anzar co-athletic director Tracy Carpenter realized he wouldn’t be able to coach the girls this season due to family and logistical reasons, Frank was the best — and perhaps, only — option to take the reins.
So three hours before the season-opener against Gilroy last Tuesday, Frank was officially the new girls’ coach. Even though the Anzar boys and girls were both 0-2 entering Friday’s action, Frank said he’s confident both squads will improve as the season goes along.
The boys basically return everyone from a team that finished 5-7 in the Mission Trail Coastal League last season. The Hawks are talent-rich at the guard position, led by dynamic brothers John and James Moreno. John is the team’s starting point guard, a 5-foot-7 junior who possesses quickness and athleticism.
James is just a freshman but has already shown a game mature beyond his years. Then there’s senior shooting guard Alvaro Gonzalez, who has scored 38 points in the team’s first two games.
“Alvaro was our team MVP last year, and right now he’s living up to that status again,” Frank said.
Sophomore Josiah Martinez, a San Benito-transfer, and 6-3 sophomore Jared Dramaral, who had 10 points against Gilroy, add additional firepower from the perimeter. Anzar also has a solid front court, led by center Joshua Josselyn, a 6-4 junior who averaged 13 rebounds and two blocks per game last season.
The Hawks have a second pair of brothers on the team: forwards Elvis and Fermin Banuelos. Elvis, a junior, is the team’s glue player in that he does all of the little things that don’t get noticed in the box score, such as playing tough defense, providing a physical presence and diving for loose balls.
Fermin was a starter last year and is similar to his brother in that he hustles for rebounds and gets after it defensively. Victor Flores, a 6-3 forward, can also be counted upon for rebounding and interior defense.
“If the boys play the way they’re capable of, we should be at the top of our league this year,” Frank said.
While the boys have a sizable 15-player roster, the girls only have eight players on the team this season, down three girls from a year ago. In the 2012-13 season, the Hawks had their best season in the school’s short sports history — dating back to 1999 — as they finished 19-7 overall and a perfect 9-0 in Mission Trail Coastal League play. The Hawks also won their first-ever game in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Repeating that historic season is going to be a tall order, considering the team lost a key returning starter, Leslie Martinez, who tore a ligament in her knee in the very last match of the volleyball season.
Martinez averaged 12 points per game last year in league play, and judging by the team’s season-opening 46-13 loss to Gilroy, points are going to be hard to come by for the Hawks this season.
However, the Hawks do return 5-foot sparkplug Lynette Weckerle, a junior point guard who scored 11 of the team’s 13 points against Gilroy, but she’ll need some help if the Hawks are to contend for another league title.
“Lynette is a really good ball player,” Frank said. “She works hard, she goes hard — I expect that out of her. Everything I expect out of her, she gives. We’ve got a good group of kids so we’re going to be all right.”
Said Weckerle: “I know a lot of people will try to compare us to last year, but this is a totally different team. We lost some key players, but the important thing is we’re still going to try our best to be as competitive as we can be.”
Weckerle’s ability to get to the basket off dribble penetration should open up scoring chances for senior post Kris Johnson Powell and junior wing Mariah Dugas, who at 5-foot-9 is the team’s tallest player.
Johnson Powell will be counted upon to help offset the Hawks’ size disadvantage — she had a career-high 20 rebounds in one game last season — and Dugas is a versatile talent who can score from close and medium range.
“I got a late start with the girls, but I expect them to be peaking near the end of the league season,” Frank said. “We’ll be fighting for a playoff spot.”
