Following a few years of leading one of the teams to beat, Gatewood basketball head coach Don Keiser is facing a new normal this season.
After eight games, the Gators have a 2-6 record, with both wins coming against the same team.
“The thing is, we beat everyone so bad over the years, and now they get to have their payback,” Keiser acknowledged after a 65-25 loss at home Dec. 9 to Mount de Sales Academy. “And they have eight seniors, so they’re having a little fun with it. But I thought we made improvements. I still really think we are getting there, even if it is a little hard to see sometimes.”
The Gators sport just two seniors on the roster this season, and only one previously played any organized basketball. Keiser’s top scorer so far this season is an eighth-grader, which is promising for the future but points to a not-so-ideal mix of inexperience in the present.
That lack of depth was exploited Friday night in Monticello, where Piedmont Academy delivered a 64-43 loss to the Gators.
Once more, 8th-grade point guard Bennett Haley led the way in scoring for Gatewood with 11 points, followed by sophomore Harrison Harper and freshman Colton Cheek with eight apiece. Lake Ferman, the lone senior starter for Gatewood, scored six, as did freshman Cruz Chapman, who nailed a pair of 3-pointers late in the contest. Haley’s sophomore brother, Brady, contributed four points to round out the Gators’ scoresheet.
The challenge continued Saturday in Watkinsville, where Westminster Christian Academy nearly doubled up on Gatewood, handing the visitors a 70-36 loss.
Gatewood has one more game scheduled this year, a Dec. 20 date with Georgia Military College Prep in Milledgeville. After that, the season will resume Jan. 2 with a visit to Mount de Sales in Macon.
Keiser is looking forward to better results in the second half of the season after 2026 begins.
“I mean, I’ve been through seasons like this before, where you just want to see improvement every game. See them getting better and better, and I think I’m seeing that,” he said. And the more we play, the better we get,” he said. “And the more we can practice and get to the gym and learn stuff and watch film and point out things that are not going well, the better we’ll get, too.
“Right now, it’s just one of those seasons, but we want to be peaking come January. That’s when we want to be playing some of our best ball, when we hit the region, and just take it from there.”