Hawks log thousands of miles during prep basketball season

HOUSTON — As the Houston boys and girls basketball teams cap their regular seasons this weekend, the Hawks will be in an unfamiliar place.

The Houston High School gymnasium.

“I’ve Been Everywhere,” has been Houston’s theme song this year, with the Hawks spending most of their season in a bus or an airplane, traveling throughout the state.

From the top of the world to the end of the road, the Hawks have been everywhere.

They’ve crossed the tundra bare.

Breathed the mountain air.

Nikiski, Barrow, Delta, Kotzebue, Seward, Kenai, Soldotna, Homer.

Houston’s been everywhere.

With only five home games each for the varsity girls and boys basketball teams, the Hawks have spent the majority of the season on the road. Each squad spread 17 games across seven road trips.

There were two quick trips to Anchorage, for games against Southcentral Conference opponents Anchorage Christian and Grace Christian. But aside from that, the closest road game on Houston’s 2015-16 schedule was the 183 miles from Houston to Seward.

The Hawks started the season with a pair of tournaments on the Kenai Peninsula, with the girls at Kenai Central and the boys at Soldotna. That was a 430-mile round trip for the Hawks. In January, Houston made the trek to Delta Junction for the Dean Cummings Memorial. The Hawks logged 1,104 miles that weekend. Last month, the Hawks toured the Peninsula again, making stops in Seward, Nikiski and Homer, totaling 682 miles on the road.

Sandwiched in between the trip to Delta and the trek through the Peninsula were tournaments in Barrow and Kotzebue. Each trip included the 128-mile round trip to and from Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage. Then there was the 1,444-mile round trip flight to and from Barrow, and a 1,094-mile round trip flight to and from Kotzebue.

Add it all together, and the Hawks have logged 2,712 miles on the road this season and 2,538 through the air.

Grand total: 5,250 miles.

To put it in perspective, the Hawks could have flown from Anchorage to Los Angeles, California, and driven across the country to Washington DC and not put in as many miles as they have during the 2015-16 season. With just the road miles this season, the Hawks could have traveled the Iditarod Trail 2.5 times.

“It’s been fun. It’s definitely been very hard,” Houston junior Ben Bitler, a member of the boys’ varsity team said. “We’ve missed a lot of school. We’ve had to catch up a lot.”

All of the miles have led to an unbelievable number of hours in a bus, Suburban or airplane for Bilter and his teammates.

“We watch movies, listen to music and talk about basketball,” Bitler said.

So what happens when the road trips become too long, and the players start to get restless during their ride?

“When it gets to that point, you close your eyes and go to sleep,” Bitler said with a laugh.

Bitler said the Hawks certainly have time to bond during these road trips that can last as long as three or four days.

“We’re all really close friends,” Bitler said.

There are the miles on the road, but also the nights away from home. And these are not trips with hotel stays. The team sleeps in schools.

“You stay in a room with 10 other guys for four nights,” Bitler said.

It’s cots and air mattresses in classrooms.

But it could be worse, Bitler said.

“It’s a lot better than a gym floor,” Bitler said.

But road-heavy game schedules aren’t anything new for Houston basketball.

“We’re kind of used to it,” Houston boys basketball coach Steve Henderson said. “Most of the kids, that’s all they know.”

The Hawks are seasoned veterans, when it comes to the stiff joints after a long bus ride, fast food takeout and the nights on classroom floors that come with this type of travel. And Henderson said the coaches know what to keep an eye on.

“Biggest thing is getting them caught up in class, make sure they bring their homework,” Henderson said. “Some of those days, there’s nothing to do, so we do study halls. One or two a day, so when we get back they’re not way behind.”

This type of travel is expected for many programs in Alaska high school sports. With a state that spans more of 663,000 square miles, twice the size of the next largest state in the United States, Texas, traveling thousands of miles can be expected.

Currently there are more high school basketball teams in Alaska from schools that reside in communities in rural Alaska that are off the road system than there are teams from schools reached by highways in the 49th state.

Athletes from schools such as Kotzebue, Barrow and Bethel are regulars on an airplane. It’s regular ferry trips for athletes from schools such as Kodiak, Cordova or Sitka.

But the Houston Hawks are not the team expected to log more than 5,000 miles over land and through air.

Houston High resides in the fastest growing borough in the state, and is one of six Alaska Schools Activities Association-sanctioned schools in the Mat-Su Borough School District. And while Houston High may be part of the core of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the school is somewhat isolated from its Class 3A peers, Houston High activities director Dave Porter said.

In the prep basketball world, Porter said, “We’re kind of in the middle of nowhere. Teams don’t want to travel to Houston.”

Houston is currently the lone 3A school for basketball in the Valley. Palmer, Colony and Wasilla are all in the 4A Northern Lights Conference. Susitna Valley is a 2A program. Redington, which opened its doors in the fall of 2015, will be a 3A school once the Huskies have varsity programs. The Hawks have their five conference home games, but aside from that, Porter said the Hawks are forced to travel to find 3A opponents.

“Right now, it’s really difficult for teams to come out this way. It’s a big expense for almost any team coming to play us. It doesn’t behoove a 3A team to come play us for one game. It doesn’t make sense,” Porter said.

When Redington graduates to the varsity level and fields 3A programs, it will help Houston, Porter said. Teams from outside the borough can hit the Valley for games at both school, with the chance to pick up another game against a schools such as Grace or ACS. But until then, it’s “On the Road Again,” for the Hawks.

The need to build a schedule heavy with 3A road opponents is due to ASAA’s Winning Percentage Index, the formula ASAA uses to rank teams. The WPI factors in both a team’s winning percentage and the winning percentage of a team’s opponents from its same class. For Houston, its WPI accounts for only games against other 3A teams.

“With the WPI, it’s really pushing for us to travel more. We have to have the 3A schools if we want to get more WPI points,” Porter said.

With the travel comes cost. Each school gets a travel allotment from the school district, but that must be split among the sports.

“It gets eaten up pretty fast, especially with the distances we travel,” Porter said.

Porter said those involved with the boys and girls programs have put in the work necessary to make the travel possible.

“The team has been great about fundraising,” Porter said.

Thursday, the Hawks begin their longest homestand of the season — three nights. Thursday though Saturday will account for 60 percent of Houston’s home schedule. The Houston boys and girls made their home debut this season Jan. 12 against Grace. The Hawks had to wait six weeks for their next home contest, games with ACS on Feb. 23. Thursday, the Hawks host Seward, with home games against Homer and Nikiski to follow.

When the Hawks hit the floor against the Lions on Feb. 23, Bitler said it felt good.

“It was nice to have our own fans rooting for us,” Bitler said.

And on Thursday, when the Hawks face Seward, it’s not off to a classroom to crash. It’s a night in their own beds.

“It’s really kind of foreign to us,” Henderson said with a laugh.

Following the weekend homestand, Houston will make the short 60-mile trek to Anchorage for the Southcentral Conference Championships at Grace Christian March 10-12.

And then there’s next year.

The Hawks are expected to log thousands of miles again, Porter said. But the 2016-17 season won’t be limited to tundra and mountains.

Add sandy beaches to the mix.

The Hawks are headed for Hawaii for a tournament.

“I’m pretty pumped,” Bitler said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.