NEW PORT RICHEY - Anything at Ridgewood this season could have been dismissed as aftermath, written off as an epilogue to last year's trip to the region final and the challenge of replacing six seniors.
Instead, a new group of Ram seniors forged an identity of their own.
Gary Anders had the county's top player returning in center Andrew Reed, but the rest of the lineup was full of unknowns and unprovens. What's more, Ridgewood now shared a district with the county's other dominant team, Wesley Chapel, further decreasing the chances of repeating any success.
How would the Rams make up for the loss of guard Chris Halkitis, who had shared Sunshine Athletic Conference player of the year honors? The answer, Anders found, wasn't in any single player, but in the combined talents of his entire roster.
Every Ridgewood player brought some part of Halkitis to the hardwood. Brendan Geronimo was a defensive stopper; Chris Gunter a gritty, fearless floor leader; Mike Blum a deadly outside shooter and Mike Prendergast a little of all those things.
Add Stephen Affetto, an energetic force off the bench as, perhaps, the county's best sixth man, and the Rams had a lineup fortified with the chemistry of a nearly all-senior group.
Ridgewood's 22-6 record, with a district title and a share of the conference crown, was a testament to Anders' program. This season's seniors had little on-court experience but made people wonder how good the Rams' second five would have been a year ago.
Even this season's role players made the most of their time. In the district final against Wesley Chapel, foul trouble forced Anders to turn to reserve Anthony Ponds, an undersized guard faced with the unenviable task of defending Chase Bussey.
He responded with two minutes of harassing, in-your-face defense, enough to fluster the normally cool Bussey into calling a timeout. It was an Anders moment, with depth providing one pivotal edge in a game that decided the close rivalry between the county's top two teams.
He wasn't the only coach who faced high expectations.
Wesley Chapel's Doug Greseth inherited a team that made the state semifinals the past two seasons but graduated all of its starters. His first season ended with his first playoff appearance in 13 seasons as a coach, and two of his six losses came to Ridgewood.
Anders has his work cut out for him again, perhaps even more so, next season. A huge majority of his minutes were played by seniors, and he doesn't have a superstar such as Reed to build his team around. If this season is any indication, the Rams won't be taken lightly by anyone, new starters or not.
