The 2009 West Johnston basketball teams both have new coaches at the helm; however, neither are strangers to Wildcat basketball tradition. This year Coach Kristopher Bennett will be taking over for Shelly Marsh, who is now the Associate Superintendent of Johnston County Schools. On the girls’ side, William Pepicello will be the new coach, replacing Bennett. Pepicello was Bennett’s assistant for the previous three years.

The boys’ team returns a large portion of their starters and major contributors. Mark Parker looks to close out his high school career with a long playoff run. Along side Parker, Ben Jacobs returns for his junior season, as do Shaquille Dance and Sean Johnson, both juniors. Last year’s team reached the state playoffs by taking fourth overall in the Greater Neuse River Conference and they finished second overall in the conference tournament.

“Last year because they had little varsity experience the team was forced to slow the ball down and play games more conservative,” said Bennett. “This year we are trying to push the ball more and play an up tempo game, which means pushing the ball on offense and being more aggressive on defense.”

This Saturday West will host its own annual Jamboree in the school gymnasium. South Johnston, Wilson Fike, Nash Central, and the Christian Faith Center will all be in attendance. West Johnston will play four games between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Their marquee match-up will be at 10 a.m. when West plays South in an inter-county rivalry that will be rekindled this year. The first meeting of the two teams during the season will be Nov. 24 at South Johnston, and the Trojans will come visit West Dec. 8.

On the other end of things, Coach Pepicello will have a different challenge. Though Coach P, as he is called by the girls, has been with the team a while he will have to figure where to find production this year since Tatiana Dixon graduated and she was the team leader last year in virtually every statistical category. Coach P does, however, have many returning lettermen, including seniors Mary Beth Tew, Ashley Melvin, Te’keyah Holder, and Katalin Gavitt. The team also returns Cassidy Burr and Jessica Parker (brother of Mark Parker) who are both juniors this year and add a wealth of Varsity experience to the team.

Both Varsity teams will begin action Nov. 17 at home against Fuquay-Varina.