NEW PALESTINE — Winning one sectional championship is hard enough. But, to capture two straight, now, that can be a daunting task.
New Palestine boys basketball coach Trent Whitaker discovered this firsthand in 2019-20 as his Dragons turned what appeared to be a lost campaign into another banner season in Southern Hancock County.
“It is special to win two. It’s not easy to win one. A lot of things have to go right for you, whether it’s the draw or maybe somebody or the favorite getting knocked off,” Whitaker said. “Last year, I definitely felt like we were the favorite and we took care of business. This year, it was kind of up for grabs, and we got a decent draw and took advantage of it.”
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The regular-season groundwork was just as important for Whitaker’s Dragons. Opening the year 1-0 before dropping to 3-9, patience, chemistry and development led to the program’s ninth sectional championship all-time and a 14-12 final record.
Whitaker, the Hancock County Coach of the Year for 2019-20, knew what was possible despite a revamped roster. It was a matter of believing, and the Dragons’ never lost their faith in the process.
“We lost so much from last year’s team, but everybody wanted to just be a part of it. They got a taste of it from last year, so the motivation wasn’t that difficult,” Whitaker said.
“The expectations were so high, and they were high for me as well and for our seniors. We just didn’t live up to those expectations at first, but we knew it was going to take some time.”
The Dragons kept their focus by sticking to their goals of winning the Hoosier Heritage Conference, repeating at sectional and returning to regional where they lost in the title game the year prior.
With a need to “proof it,” as their mantra echoed, the Dragons captured the HHC and finished the season with a game-changing 11-3 push to reach the eventually cancelled Southport Regional.
A group of talented newcomers were key and having the program’s all-time leading scorer in senior Maximus Gizzi and senior big man Dawson Eastes on the floor fueled the turnaround.
“Just the fact with (Blaine) Nunnally, (Steele) Brasfield and (Matthew) Brown, not seeing any minutes at all before, we definitely weren’t experienced, but we had Maximus, one of the best players all-time at New Palestine, and Dawson Eastes, who is a great player in his own right,” Whitaker said. “When you look at those two, you kind of expect to pick up where you left off, but it was difficult the first few months.”
The wins piled up where they mattered, though. At 1-1 in the HHC in early January, the Dragons’ lone losses the rest of the way were to non-conference opponents, and lessons applied in early March.
“That’s something that kept us going when we were 2-8. We had one conference win at the time and one loss going into January. We knew we still had an opportunity,” Whitaker said. “We beat a very good Pendleton team and a Delta team back-to-back in January, and we kind of refocused.”
The determined Dragons steered Whitaker to his third winning season in five years and third consecutive with a 60-65 record in his career.
While serving as an assistant coach for 10 seasons before taking over for Adam Barton in 2015-16, Whitaker remembers the growing pain years.
At 6-17 his first season at the helm to 6-18 in 2017, success didn’t come without hard work, and at New Palestine, Whitaker witnessed his program’s commitment with 15-10 record in 2018 to 18-9 in 2019.
“The thing I love about New Palestine is I’ve had great kids to work with in all five years. We didn’t get as many wins to start off, but those kids were great. They did everything they could to get wins, but unfortunately, they didn’t,” Whitaker said. “But, the entire time we were together, we believed and we stuck with it. That’s what we’ve been doing and it’s worked.”
No more so than this season.
“People ask, give me the difference between this year and last year. The biggest thing I tell people is last year, not to be arrogant, we pretty much dominated the sectional,” Whitaker said. “This year, the game against Mt. Vernon was an incredible game, and Muncie Central (in the championship), the same thing. It wasn’t decided until the last shot. When that ball is in the air, you just didn’t know, and fortunately, it went our way.”
