North Division Schedule Comes Calling for Blue Devils
NORTH ADAMS -- Technically speaking, there really isn't any difference between the North and South Divisions in the Berkshire County high school basketball league.Year to year, 11 of the county teams are split into two divisions, with school location and rivalries meaning nothing. The only real rule is there has to be six teams in one division and five in the other. Each of the teams in the two divisions have to play the other schools in their division twice per season, once at home and once on the road.
While there is no clear delineation between the two divisions, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that one division, year to year, is stronger than the other. In Berkshire County, the North Division is typically the stronger of the two groups. Teams move up and down between the two divisions every couple of years based on the level of their team's competition. Ask any basketball coach in Berkshire County, though, and they'll tell you that a move to the North means a tougher, more strenuous schedule.
While the road to victories in the North Division might be a more challenging one, it's a burden most coaches want to take on because overall it makes their team stronger and better prepares them for postseason play. Just ask John Franzoni, who has moved his Drury girls' basketball team back up to the North Division this year after playing in the South Division the past two seasons.
The Blue Devils were a mainstay in the North Division until the 2007-08 season, when they posted their first and only losing season under Franzoni. Drury then dropped down to the South Division the following year, partly because it meant playing two games a year against North County rivals Hoosac Valley and Mount Greylock. The move to the South was a successful one, as the Devils brought home back-to-back South Division championships the past two years.
So why did Franzoni feel the need to jump back into the North Division mix this season? After beating Wahconah, a fellow North Division opponent, by 30 points in an independent game two weeks ago, the ninth-year Drury head coach shed some light on the subject.
"A lot of people were making comments that maybe we should have stayed in the South, but we wanted to show them that we belonged in the North," Franzoni said. "We've heard comments like, 'Why are you moving up for.' Well this why we went there. The only thing that matters is what we believe in that locker room. We believe in each other, and we proved it tonight.
"We want to challenge our kids, we want to make them be their best and this is what it's all about, playing quality opponents all throughout the season."
In the past two years, Franzoni has done his best to challenge his players by scheduling tough independent games against quality teams, but considering the Berkshire County league is perhaps the toughest league in Western Mass., there really is no better competition than playing teams like Lee, Pittsfield, Taconic, Wahconah and Monument Mountain twice a year.
While the Blue Devils have started strong at 7-2 through their first nine games, the season in some ways begins tonight, as they embark on a four-game stretch against North Division opponents. Drury lost it's first league game, a tough 48-45 nailbiter against Pittsfield on Sunday, but came back strong in a seven-point win over Mount Greylock two nights later.
Franzoni's squad first meets up with Taconic on the road tonight. The Braves are off to a slow start at 3-4, but are no slouches on their home court. Last year, Taconic led Drury by eight points at halftime, only to see the hosts storm back to earn a 50-47 win at Bucky Bullett Gymnasium.
The schedule gets much tougher after tonight, however, with Lee hosting the Blue Devils on Jan 18, followed by home games against Wahconah and Monument Mountain on Jan. 21 and 24, respectively. The Wildcats are the defending Division 3 state champions and currently sport a perfect record of 7-0. Last season, Drury went down to Lee with a 9-0 record and left humbled courtesy of a 50-23 defeat. Franzoni's club will have to do a better job of handling the Wildcats' full-court pressure and limiting turnovers if they want to give themselves a chance to win that game.
Wahconah won narrowly 50-48 in the team's only meeting last year, but the Warriors were manhandled by the Blue Devils in the Gene Wein Holiday Tournament two weeks ago. Drury is fortunate to have home-court advantage again, but I wouldn't count on another 30-point victory the second time around. The biggest measuring stick for the Blue Devils will probably be Monument Mountain, who somehow beat Drury three times last season, with two of the wins coming in overtime. In each overtime game on the Spartans' home court, the Blue Devils had the lead in the final minute only to watch as Monument scored late off of an offensive rebound to force overtime. The Spartans would eventually pull both games out in OT, the last time ending Drury's season and sending themselves to the Western Mass. semifinals.
"It's a big stretch of games for our team right now," Franzoni said. "These will all be tough challenges for our team, but these are the games that help the Berkshire teams improve and play so tough each year in the tournament. Our defensive effort has been the key to our success this season, along with an improved offensive flow and good contributions off the bench."