Falcons are set to soar again
The trophy case in the Salisbury High School lobby is filled with boys basketball championship memorabilia..
With three Lehigh-Northampton League titles, 11 Colonial League championships and six District 11 titles, the Falcons are synonymous with success when it comes to high school basketball and the trophy case and walls in Bill Paulik Gym reflect it.
The last two seasons, however, have been uncharacteristic for the proud program. After three consecutive 20win seasons from 2014-15 through 2016-17, Salisbury has just 13 wins combined in the past two seasons — the Falcons were 8-14 last year, 5-12 in the league.
But there’s a feeling of optimism this year. Salisbury won the small school championship at the Cedar Beach Summer Basketball Showcase.
“There is a feeling, a vibe that we can improve and that’s my goal,” said Jason Weaver, entering his 12th season with a record of 174-105. “We had a good summer. We saw a lot of improvement. We’ve talked about it as a team in the summer and preseason. We should be back in the league and district tournaments. But it’s not going to be easy because our league is very tough, very balanced.”
As to be expected at a smaller school, Weaver has several players who were members of Salisbury’s 6-5 football team.
“We’re looking for leadership on and off the court,” he said. “We also need to play better defense and cut down on the turnovers on offense. That was a problem last year.”
Senior Patrick Foley said a key will be handling adversity.
“When things go wrong we need to be able to keep our heads up and just keep going,’ Foley said. “We need to work the ball around and get good shots and we also need to get in good shape so we can compete with other teams and run them off the court.”