SWAMPSCOTT — After some successful seasons for Big Blue fall sports the Swampscott boys basketball team is looking to make its mark this winter.
“They’ve been excited since the end of last season,” Swampscott head coach Justin Fucile said of his players. “We have had a great offseason so far with a lot of kids playing summer ball and other sports this fall. A lot of our other teams kids play for have had some success and we love that. That kind of thing is contagious and we are looking to get in on the fun this year.”
This season the Big Blue bring back an experienced group with a lot of familiar faces.
“We definitely have an experienced group coming back with a few starting players returning,” Fucile said. “Three of five starters are back. Our captains are Jackson Byrne, Max Pegnato Jake Goldman. These are our leaders and we are going to look to them all season.
“Andrew Augustin is also returning,” Fucile added. “He was our leading scorer last season and obviously he’ll play a huge role. Another senior for us is Jack Leahy, who is actually coming out and playing for the first time since youth basketball. I’m excited to get the chance to coach him.”
The Big Blue will hope to feed off an energy around the school that Fucile says he hasn’t seen in a long time.
“There’s a different atmosphere this year,” Fucile said. “We had an assembly earlier in the year and a video that was suppose to play had some technical issues. The whole school and all the kids started singing the a song that was apart of the video. I haven’t seen the school come together like that for something in along time. I think that the old Swampscott is coming back and that this group of students is a close together as ever.”
On the court, Swampscott’s first goal this season will be to improve its defensive game.
“Just to start I know that last year was one of the poorest defensive seasons we have had since I got here,” Fucile said. “Our first goal is to improve that. We have the skill and speed so defensively we should definitely improve. Offensively we are a fast team. We play really good full court basketball. We have shooters and we can play.”
Fucile and the Big Blue know that putting together wins won’t be easy in the Northeastern Conference.
“The last two seasons, I’ve looked at the schedule and it’s one of the most difficult Swampscott has ever had,” Fucile said. “This is a good conference and it’s also tough when you play some teams once away. It’s only fair when you play home and away so hopefully we can back to that soon.
“When you play away it’s always a struggle,” Fucile added. “But I know that every game will be a war. If we win it’s going to be tough from start to finish. We just want to get better every game.”
Overall, the Big Blue’s biggest goal will be to make the state tournament once again, whether that means a winning record or not.
“Bottom line our goal is 10-10,” Fucile said. “Last year we made it in with the Sullivan Rule and we weren’t exceptionally proud of that but that’s we needed to do to make it. We would love to have a better record but 10-10 is our first goal. I think we are ready to play some of our best basketball right from the start and the expectation is to win.”
Swampscott opens the season on the road Dec. 14 against Marblehead.
