Dylan Beattie made eight steals that he converted into 11 points as West Sedona School, in its third game, achieved its elusive first win of the season, and the first in the career of the Wildcats’ new head coach, at home Nov. 19.
Fellow eighth-grader Jose Loreto’s jump shooting added eight points, while the highlight of seventh-grader Lucas Hernandez’s seven points was an “amazing ‘and one’ finish at the hoop” for new head coach Mauro Trahin Jr. in a 29-19 victory over the Oak Creek School, from Cornville.
“Glad we won, [but] now that we have won one, it’s time to get two,” Trahin said during the team’s weeklong Thanksgiving break. “The boys and I are on the same page about it. It’s time to get hungry for another win and not get satisfied with this one.”
Trahin, for the past two years a private basketball tutor for such players as Big Park Community School guard Chase Saczalski, replaced West Sedona School athletic director Pedro Ortega Sr. as head basketball coach for the Wildcats.
“It’s kind of early to tell, but from feedback and seeing what’s going on, it seems like he’s doing a good job,” Ortega said. “He’s learning. Kids are getting used to him.
“As long as he can keep those kids motivated where they can keep coming and play basketball, he can hopefully build a better program.”
Ortega “needed to get somebody new” after he decided to step down from his coaching duties with the Wildcats to focus on his responsibilities as West Sedona athletic director and as new coach of the Sedona Red Rock High School junior varsity boys basketball team — allowing him to work closer with his son, Michael, a sophomore recovering from a broken leg injured during summer play.
“There’s going to be longer trips here, more than in [West Sedona] School,” Ortega said. “It’s going to be fun. So far, so good.”
So far for Trahin, although he understands first-year coaches have to earn their stripes and work their way up, program-building wins have been hard to come by.
“We’re still going hard, if not harder in practice,” he said. “We have Clarkdale next week, and that’s going to be our biggest challenge of the year.
“We are doing our best to prepare for … playing a well-coached team.”
After a rough 34-10 initiation Nov. 10 at the hands of Big Park Community School, and a Nov. 12 game with Pine Strawberry Elementary School was postponed, the Wildcats defense fared no better on its first road trip Nov. 17, giving up another 34 points in a 12-point loss at Camp Verde Middle School.
“They played like men out there and competed all the way,” Trahin said, “even though the score didn’t show that.”
Seasoned shooters, coincidentally, have been almost as hard for Trahin to find as wins. Trahin carries just three eighth-graders who played on Ortega’s final team last season — as many players as free throws made, out of nine attempts, in the 34-22 loss Nov. 17.
Two of those three players are Beattie, who accumulated another five steals in the 34-22 loss Nov. 17, and Loreto, who was three of four from the three-point line to lead the West Sedona scorers.
“He was afraid to shoot in the first half, but second half, Jose Loreto was lights-out from three,” Trahin added. “We did a great job of getting to the free throw line, but we struggled making the free throws.”
At least the Wildcats can claim the Verde Valley League lead in one category: Best-dressed head coach. At least, if the distinctive bow tie Trahin wore to SRRHS for his Nov. 10 debut is any indication.
“I’ll usually wear a normal tie but decided to change it up for once,” Trahin said. “The bow tie is just a good look. Only one I have, but … I might get more.”
“It’s about how you look, not how you coach,” Ortega laughed. “Only a few look distinguished in it.”
