'99-00 SCHEDULE

Dec. 3-4 -- at Tidioute Tip-Off      7-- at Union-Rimersburg      8-- Villa Maria      10-- Saegertown      14-- at Linesville      17-- at Conneaut Lake      21-- Maplewood      28-29 -- at Commodore Perry Tournmament Jan . 4 -- Cambridge Springs      7--at Lakeview      11-- at Cochranton      14-- Union City      18-- at Conneaut Valley      21-- at Saegertown      25-- Linesville      28-- Conneaut Lake Feb. 1-- at Maplewood      4-- at Cambridge Springs      8-- Lakeview      11-- Cochranton      15-- at Union City      18-- Conneaut Valley.

By The Herald Sports Staff

It could be another long season for coach Scott Taylor and his Muskies.

The team is steeped in the FCVC and will end up facing teams like perennial powers Cochranton, Conneaut Lake and Linesville.

When asked which team he likes, coach Taylor replied: "I hate that question, there is so much talent in the league, there are such great coaches, that it's hard to pick one team."

Taylor is still confident of his team's performance this season. After last year's 0-22 mark he almost has to be.

"There is nowhere to go but up," said Taylor. "I honestly think we are a better team. Our schedule may be a little easier but the FCVC is always tough and we will just have to face them when we get there.

"With our schedule," he continued, "I'd say we can get 9 or 10 wins."

Taylor is looking toward their season-starting tip-off tournament at Tidioute as a litmus test for the season. Along with Tidioute the Muskies will challenge Bethel Christian and Oswego Valley.

"It's a big tourney and it will be a great test for us," said Taylor. "I think that we have a pretty good chance of winning it, surprisingly."

The Muskies, however, still have problems with their overall depth. Their numbers improved from 11 in 1998 to this year's 13.

"My main goal in the off-season was to have enough players to field two teams," Taylor stated.

Taylor resorted to some school hall recruitment tactics and it paid off.

"Luckily, this year, we have enough for both jayvee and varsity, but it still leaves our bench a little weak."

The pickups will provide some work for his two junior high assistant coaches Ron Lorigan and Mike Pierce. Assisting Taylor on the varsity side will be Kevin Reese.

Taylor is looking to his three returning seniors as leaders. Among them is 6-2 forward Chad Bollard who lettered last season, and a pair of point guards in 5-9 Jamie Fries, and the 5-10 B.J. McElhinny. Fries and McElhinny saw limited playing time last season, but they will both get the call this year.

Taylor is also depending on a trio of juniors to round out his squad. Namely center Hugh McClimans, who tops out the team at 6-4, 6-2 Gary Knapp, who made consistent contributions at forward last season, and 5-10 David Herdering, who scored the third most amount of points last year with 138. Herdering was behind Justin Occhiogrosso (231) and David Veverka (194), who were both lost to graduation.

"I definitely feel like we're much more competitive than last year," Taylor said. "I think that each of our starters have the ability to average in the double-digits. We're just going to have to wait and see."