IRON FIVE

IRON FIVE - The Oklahoma Eagles Elite basketball team played in the Adidas Gauntlet National Qualifying Tournament last weekend in Indianapolis, Ind., against strong competition from several states. The Eagles defeated Illinois Athletics and Indiana Elite before losing to Wisconsin Focus and Indiana Ice. The Eagles players were dubbed “The Iron Five” at the tournament for having only five players who had to play very strong competition with no bench. One of the Eagles players had broken his leg in last week’s Prep Hoops Tournament and another is recovering from surgery and two others had school baseball tournaments so were not available until their season concludes. So the Eagles went on the road with five players. “The boys played their hearts out and gave everything they had in each game and embraced ‘The Iron Five’ name they had been given because they backed each other up and hustled and fought for every inch,” said Larry Jenkins, one of the team’s coaches. “We, the Eagles’ coaches, are extremely proud of these young men from Oklahoma.” Pictured are, from left, Larry Jenkins, coach Luke Jenkins, Vance Raney (Cashion), T.J. Kelly (Guthrie), Jonah Jenkins (Cashion), Andrew Smith (Bishop McGuinness), Mickey Hunnicutt (Ardmore) and head coach Vaughn Raney.