Raiders hope to put injuries in past
By Dave Morrison for the register-herald
Chad Williams can ’ t help but feel like the Raiders , through no fault of their own , let a couple prime opportunities get away .
The Raiders have advanced to the Class AA Region 3 co-finals the last two seasons .
Most of what they ’ ve done has been without A . J . Williams , coach Williams ’ nephew , who missed over half of his high school career because of injuries or Covid .
The cruelest blow was last year , when the senior suffered a season-ending knee injury in the last scrimmage of the preseason , ending his career . How good was Williams . Despite it all , he still scored 800 career points and signed with WVU Tech , where he is expected to redshirt .
Without Williams , the Raiders still went 9-13 and fell to Wyoming East in the Region 3 finals , one game from Charleston . With Williams , Liberty will never know .
Williams must face life without not only Williams , but also Adam Drennen , who averaged a double-double with 16.4 points , 12.5 rebounds , was a second-team all-state selection and represented Liberty in the Scott Brown Classic all-star game . He scored in double figures in every game last season .
The Raiders also lost Adam McGhee , an honorable
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Brad Davis / For The Register-Herald
Liberty ’ s Zach Bowman drives and scores as Independence ’ s Logan Phalin , left , and Jordan James defend in Glen Daniel .
mention all-state selection , who averaged 12.2 points , 3.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists .
Life without the two Adams and A . J Williams will be tough . But another area of concern , depth , might have been addressed when 35 players came out for the team . Obviously only five can play but having so many interested in playing again is a positive for the Raiders .
“ I don ’ t know , maybe the attitude is changing ,” Williams said . “ Maybe some of the kids who didn ’ t play but should have thought because we had A . J ., Adam , some of the other kids , they wouldn ’ t see much playing time . When you have the kind of talent we have had , at least when we were healthy , you see writing on the wall that isn ’ t there . I wish they would have played , but we are happy to have the kids we have right now .
“ We don ’ t have any superstars , but we have a lot of pieces and a lot of kids who can play . I ’ m excited at the direction we are headed .”
The Raiders have a good nucleus back and it starts with Zach Bowman , who averaged 9.5 points , 7.3 rebounds , 2.4 assists and two steals per game .
“ Zach is ready to take a step up , he ’ s really been a solid player for us , and his numbers show it ,” Williams said . “ He ’ s had some great games , hit some big shots . He ’ s going to have a strong year .”
In a season opening win against Van , he had 23 , and he had a 20-point game against Westside .
Also back at guard is Ethan Williams , the coach ’ s other nephew and A . J . Williams ’ cousin , who had an up-and-down first season as a starter . But he has proven he can score with six double figure games as a sophomore , including 22 in a win against PikeView and he averaged 7.8 points and 2.4 assists .
Junior Resean Simms and senior Connor Cantley are both back . Simms averaged 4.5 points per game and 5.1 rebounds and Cantley averaged 4.8 points and 2.2 rebounds . Both are going to play even bigger roles this season .
With more potential players going out there is the chance to find diamonds in the rough and Williams thinks he did just that with Devin Price , a senior .
Jaden Cook is also back off a knee injury that sidelined him last year , and three sophomores who saw limited action as freshmen , Kris Bowman , Riley Marty and Jaden Acord offer good options .
“ I think we are going to have a really good rotation and we have had good chemistry so far ,” Williams said . “ One thing that I really like about this team is it ’ s a group that plays physical . They want contact ; they don ’ t shy away from it . They play 100 percent all the time , and all of them , not just one or two guys .”
Of course , the Raiders have to traverse tough terrain to advance , with the likes of perennial state tournament team – and runners-up last year – Bluefield , powerhouse Chapmanville which has reloaded and Wyoming East , a state tournament team , all back with tough teams .
“ It ’ s never easy in this region , we know that ,” Williams said . “ And we have been right there on the doorstep . I ’ m excited to get going again , get a full season in ( the Raiders have also been adversely affected by Covid more than most over the last two seasons ) and see what we can do . I like this team .”