Clay Takes Gamer of the Week Honors
Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc. and The Putnam Herald are pleased to present this week’s male Gamer of the Week to senior, Ethan Clay of the St. Albans high school basketball team.
The St. Albans Red Dragons history of success has been on hiatus for several years until this year. With a record of 16-8 at the time of writing, St. Albans is experiencing their most successful season in 16 years. The program has slowly gained momentum and increased its victory total in the few years since head coach, Bryan England took the helm. A large source of this increased success has been the leadership and work ethic of the senior class. One of those seniors, guard Ethan Clay, has been integral in the success of the Red Dragons this season with his scoring and rebounding outputs, but also with his excellent defense and intangibles. Coach England commented on his importance to the team, “He’s the hardest working kid we’ve got. If you watch one of our games, you’ll notice that he never takes a play or possession off. Ever.”
In the Region 3, Section 1 Semi-finals, St. Albans took down Capital 69-59, avenging an overtime loss earlier in the season. Clay had a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double with some key plays in the third quarter to put them in the driver’s seat for the game. That win advanced them to the sectional finals against the number one seed, GW Patriots. Despite suffering a defeat in the game, Clay put together a defensive master class in holding GW leading scorer, Mason Pinkett to 9 points in the game. Ethan also contributed 10 points in the effort. St. Albans will travel to Woodrow Wilson this week in the Regional final with the winner advancing to the state tournament. Clay commented on the season’s success this year, “If you look back to my freshman year, it was pretty low. We were not very good. I think the difference is that we just really want it now. We are fully committed and just interested in winning. I want to advance through sectionals, advance through regionals, get to states, and win a ring. I just want to win. That’s all this team cares about.” One win from the state tournament, St. Albans is getting ever-closer to achieving their goal.
Ethan grew up in Lincoln County and has been playing basketball for as long as he can remember. After 8th grade, he decided to attend St. Albans high school and is incredibly pleased with his decision. “It means everything to me to be able to represent this city. Our fans and community support us 100%. I’ve never seen a community come behind a team and support them like the people here do for us. It just gives us that extra drive to continually push and win and make them proud.” Coach England echoed those statements and added, “It’s been incredible for Ethan and senior teammate, Rodney Toler, to experience this success considering what they’ve gone through on and off the court since their freshman year.”
Ethan has maintained a 3.43 GPA in high school and routinely helps out at Lakewood Elementary School in a mentorship/big brother type role to the students there. He plans to attend college but is still undecided to where he will go.
Please look for other local high school athletes to be named in next week’s male Gamer of the Week Sponsored by Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc. and The Putnam Herald.