It’s 7:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning in August, and the sound of yelling and basketballs bouncing fills the gym. There are players diving on the ground and everyone is drenched in sweat from an intense practice. As most other student’s’ alarm clocks rings, the buzzer goes off in the gym on campus already filled with players.

The varsity boys basketball team opened up their season at home Nov. 9 by upsetting Westlake. After months of practice and preparation, the team finally stepped on the court together.

“The [practices] have been long, but they’ve been very productive, and they’ve really helped us get better over the past couple of months coming up to the season,” sophomore forward Rider Smith said. “A lot of weight training, a lot of learning new offenses to get ready and implementing the core values of our team.”

The game against Westlake was part of the CTX Showcase, where the Vipers and other teams will be playing games throughout the day on Saturday Nov. 9. The game against Westlake was the last game of the night, tipping off at 7:30 p.m. and culminated in a historic 48-45 win for Vandegrift.

“We’re doing pretty well, offense and defense, just working with the new guys,” sophomore forward Grant Williams said. “A lot of offensive drills and rebounding, just working on everything to get ready.”

Every year, the program has a motto/slogan that they follow throughout the whole year. It presents a goal for the team to look back to as they go through the season. This year’s motto is “Raise the Standard.” 

“I think it means raise the standard literally but also not just on the basketball court but outside of school and outside of basketball – being a good person to be around, and being a good person to have in the classroom if you’re a teacher,” freshman guard Dylan Cottier said. “Just being a good student and doing everything you can do on the basketball court.”

Every year before the season, the team goes on some sort of retreat with a goal of bonding as a team and developing chemistry before the first game.

“We’re going to go to Luke’s [Underwood] grandma’s ranch, and we’re going to do a bunch of activities and spend the night over there,” junior guard Henry Defoore said. “It’s just to symbolize that the season is starting and that it’s time for us to lock in.”

In late September, the team traveled to San Antonio to participate in the GASO Fall Tour. The team lost their two games against Cy-Fair and Lake Highlands by a combined 3 points.

 “We learned that toughness always wins games in addition to rebounding,” Williams said. “It’s going to help us when we’re in close games this season because of the experience of playing in two close games like that.”

In addition to the GASO Fall Tour, the group played in more scrimmages on Nov. 2 to prepare for the opener.

“We learned a lot from the scrimmages, mostly things that are necessary to win,” senior guard Brady Aman said. “We’re kind of a young group but just learning different things that we didn’t do well like rebounding and transition defense, and just trying to learn from that and get better in practice the following days.”

The path to a district championship will require a full season of quality games and staying together, as games against reigning district champions and state runner-up Stony Point will provide a challenge for the group.

“[The key for us is] definitely playing as a team and staying composed,” Aman said. “They are a lot more talented than us, a lot more athletic than us, but if we play as a team and each person executes and does their job. I think that’s our best chance at winning.”

The team is led by Coach Jaime Sierra, who enters his third year at Vandegrift after being an assistant coach at his alma mater San Antonio Reagan.

 “Coach Sierra, if you know him, you know he really doesn’t like to mess around. He’s a good coach. I’d say one of the better coaches in the state of Texas,” Cottier said. “He’s a great guy but doesn’t really take stuff lightly. He takes his job seriously, and having a coach like that is good because it leads to winning. He’s hard on everybody, and it’s important for coaches to do that, and he’s definitely done that with me a few times. He’s done that with a lot of guys.”