Who could forget Norwood’s magical state championship run three years ago? This town of just over 600 people watched their beloved Pirates jam their way to their first title in program history. Only four players remain from that squad, including Peyton McDaris. And he wants to do it again.
“Oh I picture it every day,” said Peyton, a senior on the boys basketball team. “I dream about it almost every night. We thought we had it sophomore year. And we could have had it last year. We know this is our last year and we’ve got to make a statement.”
Garrett Davault has since taken his hire wire act to Evangel. But Peyton says Davault and the seniors on that squad instilled a creed that lives on in this year’s team. “They really taught us how to take advantage of these moments,” Peyton said. “Learning from those seniors, they taught us how to play. How not to let the game get to us. They taught us how to grit down.”
Now Peyton is the senior. And head coach Shane Chadwell says the all-conference guard’s leadershp is something he’s come to rely on. “I’ve told all of them, You’ve already played in a bigger game than you’re playing in right now,'” said Chadwell. “There’s no bigger game than a championship game.”
This team is winning in different ways. “We’re a little deeper,” Chadwell said. “We rotate about eight guys. Eight guys can score for us. We have a different leading scorer on a lot of different nights.”
But one thing is very familiar. “They both play with heart,” Chadwell said. “And you can’t ask for kids to do anything else besides play with heart.”
And that’s something Peyton says he never runs out of. “I’m just a short guard from Missouri,” Peyton said. “So energy is all I can give other than athleticism.”
It worked three years ago and it’s working again now.
