Charles Forrest, the new Mathews High School varsity boys’ basketball coach, said he’s optimistic and excited about his prospects for the coming season, which begins on Monday at Tabb High School.
“I don’t think we’re in a rebuilding situation,” Forrest said. Although he has lost two of the squad’s key players—Deondre Foster and Chris Perreault—to graduation, he has a good number of returning veterans, along with some new faces.
The Blue Devils, reigning Conference 42 champs, will be led by captain Cody Kelly and fellow seniors Taiwan Forrest and Owen Cullison. The rest of the team is made of juniors along with one freshman, Elijah Willis, who was the star of last year’s junior varsity squad.
“I expect them to be even better this year,” Forrest said. “I look for us to have a really successful season. Our goal is to go deep into the playoffs … We can compete with anybody.”
Forrest promises to put on an “exciting, entertaining style of basketball” for the fans. “We’re just trying to build on what Curtis Williamson had done.” Williamson stepped down earlier this year after seven seasons as MHS head coach.
Forrest said that he will be stressing academic performance this year. “I don’t want to have grade issues,” he said. “That’s got to be first. That’s what they’re here for.
“We want to set an example and be an example,” he added. “I expect my kids to carry themselves with class and dignity and play that way.”
Forrest, a physical education teacher at MHS, has been the head boys’ and girls’ track coach since 2007. He also coached the JV boys’ basketball team for three seasons and served as an assistant/JV coach for the MHS football team for several years. He also headed up the indoor track program, but since taking over the basketball program, he’s turned over the bulk of that work to Desmond Smith.
A native of Susan and a 1976 MHS graduate, Forrest earned his degree in physical education from James Madison University in 1981. He spent years in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in human resource management (what he calls his “Southern swing”), before returning to the county and getting back to teaching. He is an active member of Antioch Baptist Church, Susan.
Assisting him on the court this season will be Michael Cunningham and Calvin Singleton. C.K. Ambrose will once again be the head JV coach, with Bill Blake serving as Ambrose’s assistant.
The Blue Devils had a pre-season scrimmage on Nov. 19 against Christchurch. “If I had to grade us, I’d give us a C+,” Forrest said, adding that his team had only had three practices before the scrimmage.
Mathews will have its first home game on Friday, Dec. 5 against Lancaster, starting at 7 p.m.