Jets open season Friday against Seward

Jets open season Friday against Seward

The Northern Oklahoma College Enid Jets open the 2018-19 season Nov. 2-3 at the Pizza Hut Classic in Liberal, Kansas, under new head coach Aaron Butcher.

Butcher comes to NOC Enid from Ancilla College (Donaldson, Indiana) where he led the Chargers to a school record 113 wins and 29 wins in one season.  

"This is a really good group," Butcher said of the 2018-19 Jets team.  "They have good chemistry and have worked really hard in the off-season.  They are improving every day and just a fun group to be around.  It's not easy to have a new coach but they have adjusted well and are doing their best to do what we want."

The Jets were 16-12 in 2017-18 and return some key sophomores in 6-5 guard Tony Hall (13.5 ppg), 6-2 guard Romio Harvey (5.6 ppg), 6-6 forward Ray'Shawn Dotson (3.9 rpg), and Jackson Price.

Hall is a pre-season All-Region selection.

"Tony (Hall) has had a really good pre-season," Butcher said.  "He'll have some opportunities with his ability to score the ball, rebound, and play defense.  He has a lot on his plate, we need him to score the ball for us to be at our best."

"Romio (Harvey) played well at the end of last year," Butcher said.  "He brings a lot of energy to our team."

"Ray'Shawn (Dotson) brings a lot of versatility," Butcher said.  "He'll have an expanded role this year for our team."

"Jackson (Price) will also have a larger role," Butcher said.  "He can shoot the ball and we'll need his offensive production."

Some new faces for the Jets include Shemar Walker (Tulsa), CJ Jones (Detroit, Michigan) and Rance Kendrick (Racine, Wisconsin).

"Rebounding will be a big key for us because we are very small," Butcher added.  "We are going to have to gang rebound, everyone is going to have to hit the boards for us to compete."

The schedule is extremely tough with the Pizza Hut Classic, NOC Tonkawa Classic, Chik-Fil-A Classic in Enid and home games with Hutchinson (KS) and Hill College (TX) in addition to the Region 2 schedule. 

"It's a challenging schedule," Butcher said.  "We'll have our hands full but it will expose our weaknesses and in the end make us a better team."

Butcher comes from Division 2 and he sees the difference in the pre-season scrimmages.

"The talent level is obviously better, the players have much higher ceilings," he said.  "There is a larger gap between teams than you see in Division 2.  There are some high level teams out there and we've seen that in our scrimmages."

Butcher is assisted by second year assistant Chris Gerber.