The Phil Campbell High School varsity boys’ basketball team is poised to pounce on the 2024-25 season beginning next week. Led by first-year PCHS head coach Shannon Benford, who was hired at the end of May, the Bobcats feel satisfied with their preparation in the summer and fall leading up to the start of the campaign.
“The offseason’s been pretty good,” Benford, a 1997 PCHS graduate, told the Franklin Free Press. “The guys are working hard, and we’re looking forward to starting the season.”
In practices and workouts this summer, Benford said there were two main areas that the Bobcats focused on improving: relationships and offense.
“One main thing we really concentrated on was on is improving our attitudes and team chemistry,” he said. “And we, for sure, need to improve offensively. They struggled to score a lot last year, so we’re looking to play fast-paced and put a lot more points on the board.”
On average, the makeup of the Phil Campbell roster this year skews younger with two seniors, a junior, and six sophomores listed. Unfortunately, the Bobcats will be without one starter from last year, senior Noah Raper, who was injured during the football season—a “big loss,” according to Benford. Still, PCHS still has a few returning playmakers from that group, and the less experienced players will receive opportunities to make their mark.
“We’re sophomore heavy, for sure,” Benford said.
“We’ve got three returning starters: seniors Hayden Wingo and Logan Wright and sophomore Austin Elliott,” he added. “We have one junior and then six or seven other sophomores that are definitely gonna have to contribute for us to be successful.”
The experience and age disparity can pose a problem for some teams, but Benford said the Bobcats have good leadership and all the players work well together.
“The good thing is Hayden Wingo and Logan Wright, they’re good leaders. They play football, and I think they’ll gel with the young guys and help them come along,” he said. “And all of (the players) are willing to work—they’re coachable. There are no rifts between anyone and everyone gets along, so that’s a good thing.
“But definitely, the senior leadership is going to have to go a long way to help with the inexperience aspect because we don’t have a lot of varsity experience except for those three that’s returning,” Benford added.
Phil Campbell will take help from wherever and whomever they can get it because the Bobcats’ road won’t be an easy one, especially in all-important area contests. Phil Campbell is joined in Class 3A Area 15 by Sheffield, Colbert Heights, and reigning 2A state champs Mars Hill, none of which are pushovers.
“Mars Hill won a state championship last year and they return a lot of players from that team, so they’ll be a juggernaut,” Benford said. “Colbert Heights, Sheffield, and us, I’d say we’re all pretty similar, so it could go either way in a fight for second (place in the area). We wanna shoot for first, but the three teams other than Mars Hill are very similar to each other, so it should be competitive to get a subregional game.”
Given the expected parity of the area, it will be a tough fight for postseason places, but the Bobcats are aiming for one anyway. Benford said his team’s top two goals this season are to make the playoffs and compete for the county tournament crown.
Whether Phil Campbell can accomplish its objectives, fans will have to wait to see. But Benford also added that he also views this 2024-25 year as a bridge to success down the road if the Bobcats do it the right way.
“We’ve got a good future ahead of us with our younger guys and our junior high group is pretty good,” he said. “If we can build this year, play better, end up with a better record and more success, that’s going to help our younger guys to keep working and get the program built back up.”
Phil Campbell is set to start the season on the road at Cherokee on Tuesday, November 12th.
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