HOOPS CAN WAIT
Football vets add ‘winning mindset’ to De La Salle basketball team
De La Salle Collegiate basketball coach Gjon Djokaj isn’t worried that he might be missing four of his players when practice begins next Monday.
In fact, he’d prefer they wouldn’t be there.
That’s because Brady Drogosh, Jack Yanachik, Triston Nichols and Phoenix Glassnor would be getting ready to play in the state Division 2 football final at Ford Field on Nov. 25.
That quartet helped the Pilots win their first Division 1 basketball championship last spring. Earlier, they had helped the football team win a fourth state championship.
Djokaj doesn’t mind that the football players will miss the first weeks of basketball practice. He knows what they bring to the team when they finally show up.
“Anytime you come from a winning mindset you understand what the standard is and from week to week it can help
your team,” Djokaj said. “We were very fortunate to have guys that came off a successful (football) season and knew what it takes to get there. They’ve played under pressure situations.
“We start the season slow every year but it’s worth it. They’re
leaders in our school and on our team and they transition their toughness and physicality and just having an understanding of what it takes to be successful.”
In last week’s regional final victory against L’Anse Creuse, Drogosh ran for three touchdowns and passed for four. Two of his scoring strikes were to his basketball teammates. He hit Yanachik with a 22-yarder and Nichols for a 19-yard touchdown.
Yanachik realizes that playing on two state championship teams in the same school year is a rare feat.
“It means a lot to me, personally,” he said. “My freshman year we had a little downfall so it means a lot me what we did last year. To win our first basketball championship after winning the football championship means a lot to the school and it means a lot of all of us.”
The football team (11-1) has had a certain mindset throughout the playoffs and it will be carrying it into Saturday’s 1 p.m.