Eighth grade boys with back-toback wins for first time ever

This year's crop of Howe eighth grade boys have had their struggles in the field of athletics over the years Their success in football and basketball have been very limited However, the 2017-18 basketball season has brought in a new refreshing atmosphere and for the first time, the group has won back-to-back games and sit with a perfect 2-0 record to start the season

After going win-less again in football, and only winning one game a year ago in basketball, the team started fresh with an even won/loss record and an opening game at Lone Oak to start the season With a healthy 18 point thrashing of the Buffaloes, the boys celebrated greatly getting the monkey off of their back

"I was really excited when we got that first win, but I knew it wasn't over We've got to keep it going throughout the whole season " said starter Ethan Lopez

Lopez and his identical twin Luke said the team received an unexpected boost in the second game of the season when Howe's Varsity Basketball Coach Eric Johns was on the bench with them and helping them against Whitewright - a game in which they won, 34-25

"He got all of us involved and it worked really well," said Luke Lopez

Luke Lopez said the mentality is different from a year ago and that before the game even started," said Luke "But this year, we see the bigger dude and we just know that we have to pressure him and know that they're not going to get in the lane that easy"

The mentality has turned the corner quite possibly due to two years of outside training in the game of basketball The starters have been playing as a team in Plano for several years now and the boys are now seeing the rewards of all of that hard work

The starters on the A team are Luke Lopez, who's brother Ethan says has good court vision and can bring up the ball well He also said the team trusts his brother to be the one to take the final shot in the game

Parker Pecina is also a good ballhandler Zack Defrange is a really good post, with good court vision and has become really aggressive according to the Lopez twins

Ethan Lopez is the utility player, according to his brother Luke He can play multiple positions when various players enter the game Eli Wilson rounds out the starters with good court vision and trust to take the ball up the court if needed and drive the lane

The team has had success not because of only the starters, but the team is deep on the bench and role players don't miss a beat when entering the game

"We have a different mind set now," said Ethan Lopez "We're tired of losing So we started putting extra work in at practices