The journey to defend two championships officially begins Thursday for the Kinston Vikings.
In March, both boys’ and girls’ teams won 2A state titles — it was the first time in school history for the girls and the second consecutive year for the boys.
While Doug Erny is certainly not new to basketball, he’s the new face at Jacksonville as he enters his first year coaching the Cardinals.
The squad he’s only worked with since June travels to Kinston for both team’s season openers Thursday.
“Doug’s a good coach,” said Kinston coach Perry Tyndall, who saw the Cardinals in action this summer in camp. “His team, they got better as camp went on. … I’m sure they’ll come in here ready to play.”
The Cards finished 10-16 last year, falling 85-51 to Rocky Mount in the first round of state playoffs. Erny spent 25 years coaching at Lejeune, ending his tenure there in 2012 and leading the Devil Pups to a 22-3 record that season.
Kinston’s boys’ team finished 28-2 last year, going undefeated in the conference.
“(Playing Kinston) is a big test for us, especially for the young kids,” said Erny, who has five sophomores playing in Thursday’s game. “It’s going to be an eye-opener. … What we’re going to show tomorrow night, hopefully it’s not going to be indicative of where we can go with the team.”
Jacksonville has guards Chris Smith and Denzel McKnight returning. Kinston has several key returners, including the highly-recruited Brandon Ingram.
While Erny said Ingram isn’t Kinston’s only threat, he’s hoping the Cardinals can keep him from exploding for a huge night.
“There are some concerns about him,” Enry said of the 6-foot-7 junior forward. “We’re going to try to limit his touches if we can, and that’s easier said than done.”
Erny’s system includes a lot of trap defense, he said, which will be tested tonight. The Cardinals did not have any scrimmages this season.
Both teams are missing a few two-sport athletes to football playoffs.
“I don’t know who he’s missing, he doesn’t necessarily know who I’m missing,” Tyndall said of the contest. “We’ve seen each other play a bit in the summer, but we’ll probably be a little bit uncertain on both ends of what dynamic each team will have.”
The girls’ team out of Jacksonville will also be up for a challenge in facing the Kinston girls; the Cardinals went 2-20 last season without winning a conference game while the Vikings went undefeated in the Eastern Plains 2A on its way to the team’s first championship.
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 and Jessika.Morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.
