The Trumansburg boys basketball program has had a tale of two fortunes in the past few years. While the varsity team has failed to reach the Section IV tournament since 2017, the junior varsity side has flat-out dominated in the area during that time.
In head coach Erick Whelpley’s first two seasons leading the JV program, the Blue Raiders went 31–4 overall. Last season was one to remember, as they went 14–3 en route to winning the Interscholastic Athletic Conference (IAC) Large School title against Waverly. This time around, the Blue Raiders were even more commanding and were unbeaten in the regular season. Whelpley explained what has made the JV team so successful during his brief time at the helm.
“The fact that they’re a team and those guys play for each other, that’s the biggest thing,” Whelpley said. “There’s hurdles like any team, and in high school sports whoever can keep their emotions in check the longest usually wins, but those kids play for each other.”
Since JV squads are typically made up of mainly freshmen and sophomores, plenty of turnover each season is expected. Entering this campaign, seven players were called up to varsity while seven new players came into the JV fold. Despite a significant amount of changes in personnel, that winning mentality from last season remained strong.
“They know how much it takes to win at the JV level,” Whelpley said. “Going up, they know that you can’t take plays off, especially in the IAC. There’s been two state champions in the last eight years [Moravia 2017, Newfield 2022]. It’s a competitive league, and they understand that if you want to win, you gotta show up. No one’s gonna give you anything. I think that mentality is really starting to show, and it was really apparent for me at the JV championship game.”
However, this season’s IAC Large School Championship against Waverly—a rematch of last season’s final—didn’t go the Blue Raiders’ way, falling 53–50. It was a hard-fought battle all game, as Trumansburg rallied to tie the game up entering the final minute. It was a learning lesson for a JV team that had never experienced the bitter taste of defeat until that game.
“Even with the best strategies, you gotta show up and you gotta do the little things to win in this league,” Whelpley said. “You gotta rebound. You gotta box out. You gotta do all the dirty work that doesn’t get stats. That all kind of goes in with keeping those emotions in check in a fast-paced game like basketball.”
That championship loss to the Cardinals shouldn’t take away from what’s been another tremendous season for the Blue Raiders. There have been plenty of impressive performances this season, but one that stands out in Whelpley’s mind was a 57–49 win over Union Springs Jan. 10. Trumansburg was down by 17 at one point and eventually completed a monumental comeback. The win meant even more to Whelpley, in particular.
“Coaching football at Trumansburg and in my first stint at Dryden, I’ve never beaten them, and the kids knew that,” Whelpley said. “Union Springs is a good program. They’re super consistent. I think they’re one of the best passing teams in the league every year at both levels. They just had my number, and the kids really backed down and they came up with a win. That’s a huge turnaround, especially [with] that emotional component about high school sports.”
Like last season, there will be plenty of talent making the move up to varsity next season. One player to look out for is Elias Parker. While the sophomore excelled as part of the varsity boys soccer team in the fall with a Section IV Class C final appearance, he has been equally as outstanding on the court.
“We play mostly a zone concept on defense, and he really stepped up more than I thought he would,” Whelpley said. “The defensive hustle plays turned into points when they should have in that January-February stretch where he was just getting steals and making layups. I know he had a really good soccer season, and I think that really boosted his confidence going into basketball.”
Another player to watch out for is Arlo Peake. His older brother Weston was called up from JV last season and has played a big role on varsity in this campaign, so expect more of the same when Arlo makes the move up.
“He was a huge contributor and offense,” Whelpley said. “He was either the off-guard scoring or the point guard. So some games he might have 20 points, and other games he might have 10 but was responsible for 30 with assists.”
As the Trumansburg varsity program continues to rebuild under head coach Paul Pennock, the Blue Raiders will once again be reinvigorated with more junior varsity standouts for years to come.
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