UIL BOYS TOURNAMENT: THE FAMILY TIES OF STATE FINALIST WATER VALLEY
Family has an active role in Water Valley’s bid for its first state championship.
Andy Copley and his family have been coming to the state tournament every year for the better part of a decade.
Last year marked the first time the most anticipated family trip of the season didn’t involve purchasing a single ticket. Copley’s Water Valley team lost in the Class 1A, Division II semifinals to Douglass in its first state tourney, but vowed to make it back down here, especially with an experienced team expected to return. Well, they’re baaaaack. And this time they’re in it to win it.
The Wildcats’ defensive pressure was too much for Nazareth to overcome in Friday’s semifinal and as a result, the most watched basketball family in Tom Green County finds itself right smack dab in the middle of a state championship run.
Not that it’s a surprise for team of 10 upper classmen, which includes a senior class that isn’t accustomed to losing. Kellan Kirk- land, Trae Hannon, Connor Copley and Brock Demere have a 111-20 record over the last four seasons, which includes a 43-game district winning streak. The football team hasn’t been too shabby either, with a 40-0 regular-season record over the same period.
The basketball team’s 5842 win over the six-time state champion Swifts wasn’t even
as close as the final score indicated. No. 4 Water Valley jumped out to a 194 first-quarter and put it in cruise control the rest of the way.
It was basically a snapshot of what has happened to most Water Valley opponents this season: relentless pressure, balanced scoring and a poise that really showed thought, possibly because they experienced the bright lights of the Erwin Center a year ago and weren’t as nervous about the return trip.
“We said when we left last year that if we made it back, it would be different,” Copley said. “It’s felt different all week and it felt different today. I can’t really explain it but it’s just different.”
Copley, a Texas Tech grad, is in his fourth year as head coach at Water Valley, a town located 20 minutes northwest of San Angelo on U.S. Highway 87. Previously, he split 14 years coaching at Panhandle schools Follett, Dumas and Dalhart. Basketball is huge in West Texas, especially in the small towns, and the Copley family always looked forward to the spring when they would make the 462-mile trek to the capital city.
Up until last season’s tournament, those trips were always planned from a fan perspective.
“We’ve talked about it our whole lives that we would one day have the opportunity to play in this facility for our family, and it has come true for us,” said Copley. “We hoped someday we could come in the back door, come out that tunnel, walk on that court and sit on the bench that we have watched for the last 10 years together. Somehow we made it here.”
I had to ask Connor if his old man always sounded so smart or if he was just in rare form before the media.
“He’s pretty smart, I guess,” said the senior lead guard, who scored 12 points with four rebounds and four assists.
And that sitting on the bench part? Copley wasn’t just talking about himself, Connor and Cameron, a freshman guard who is the only non-senior in the starting lineup. Wife Jamie is also a valuable member of the staff and she was right there with her boys Friday, keeping the stat book on the bench. She was the high school principal but moved to the elementary school after Brent Kirkland, Kellan’s dad, was hired. He coached the girls team for four years.
The next matchup won’t be an easy one against Laneville, which topped Cumby Miller Grove by one point in the other semifinal. Laneville is coached by my fellow Tylerite Hosea, who is making his sixth appearance at the tourney with three different schools. He won it all with Gainesville in 2002.
Copley is confident his 28-5 team, which has scored 80-plus points in 11 of its 33 games, can get over the hump in a tight one even though the Wildcats have had an easy time of it during the postseason, winning by an average of 69-34.
With one day remaining in the basketball season, Water Valley is still in play and a first state championship would rock this town of just over 300. The biggest question in the county has to be: Can the Wildcats bring this thing home? Contact Cedric Golden at 512-912-5944. Twitter: @cedgolden