MORGAN COUNTY
Morgan County’s Harrison Peaster recently signed a letter of intent to continue his career at the next level.
The now-graduated Bulldogs’ shooting guard is going to The Winchendon School in Massachusetts. He decided to go the preparatory school route because he values both education and sports.
“I had some interest from some division III schools, but what I was really shooting for was the higher academics,” Peaster said. “So, I thought about going the prep route for a year. Basically, I have been a late bloomer for a while, so just giving my game a year to develop, I knew it would give me the best chance to keep playing at another school [in the future]. … It all worked out in the end.”
Peaster has been a member of Morgan County’s basketball team for the past four seasons and had a terrific senior year, where he was selected to the All-Region 4-AAA First Team. He was also one of the Bulldogs’ leading scorers in 2023 and was a pivotal leader in their locker room as well.
Peaster stepped up when North Carolina AT&T and fellow senior Marquavious “Qua” Brown suffered a season-ending injury following Morgan County’s 70-69 upset over Putnam County on Dec. 10. The 6-foot-1, 160-pound shooting guard then went on to put the Bulldogs on his back.
“Harrison is a big culture guy,” Morgan County head coach Cody Anderson said during the season. “He and his classmates were thrown a wrench when I took over for coach (Jamond) Sims. It was late in the summer and I became the new head coach, but he bought into what I was preaching. He helped make my transition during my first season here [at Morgan County] very smooth.”
Despite the Bulldogs not making the GHSA Class AAA state playoffs in Anderson’s first season at the helm, Peaster still enjoyed his senior season and enjoyed learning under his new head coach.
“Whenever coach Sims left, it was late in the summer, so I was worried about that. I was like, ‘Who are we going to bring in this late?’ Because it was late in the process to get a great coach such as coach Anderson,” Peaster said. “It was a blessing to have him and he really turned the culture around.
"He’s going to continue to build it at Morgan County. He really puts the players first and wants you to be a great basketball player, but also at the same time, wants you to be a great kid. So, he just made sure he built good relationships with us and I enjoyed playing under him.”
According to Peaster, his favorite memory during his senior campaign in 2022-23 was beating rival Putnam County. The Bulldogs pulled off a huge victory in front of a sold-out crowd at home.
“Obviously, playing Putnam, it was a sell-out. People were still trying to get in after a lot was turned away,” Peaster said. “Just the atmosphere was great. I had one of my better games against them, but coming in, I didn’t think a lot of people even gave us a chance.
"I think that’s really turned people’s heads and that is what I think got Morgan County [boys’ basketball] back on track. Obviously, that was the game that Qua [Brown] got hurt, but it was definitely my favorite memory.”
Peaster now heads to The Winchendon School, which has produced several Division I and professional basketball players over the years. He will play under long-time head coach Kevin Kehoe.
According to the school’s website, “The Winchendon School has a long and storied history of basketball success for both the boys’ and girls’ teams with multiple back-to-back championships. Students today are recruited for D1 play and alumni have played professionally domestically and internationally.”
Peaster can’t wait to set foot on campus and see where this new opportunity in life takes him, but he said he will always keep tabs on his teammates and check in on how Bulldogs’ basketball is doing.
“This is a new chapter of my life that I am starting and I can’t wait,” he said. “I felt like me and my senior class set the bar in terms of what coach Anderson expects and wants to build at Morgan County. We helped put it into motion, despite it being not where he wanted it to be, but we helped start that transition. I feel like we definitely laid the foundation for us to return to the top and win.”