Stars of today get their due, too, at banquet

By RICH KELLY
For the Star Beacon

"This is such an amazing honor to receive," Webb said. "My career just seems to have gone by so fast.

"As I look back over my time here, I am most happy that I can say that I have no regrets with how things have gone for me. I have just had so much fun. It's been a great pleasure to work with all my teammates and coaches.

"I'd have to say the best thing, or most favorite thing, to work on for me has been playing defense," Webb said. "No matter what kind of a game you are having in scoring, you can always play good defense and have a positive effect on the final score. Nothing can stop you from being aggressive and getting after it to win a game."

Webb is undecided as to her college future. A tough choice awaits her, as she is a standout in both volleyball and basketball, but regarding how her high school career has gone by, she is solid in what was important to her success.

"From my freshman year to this senior year, I've learned how our system was meant to be played, how to make things go your way, and how to work hard at everything all the time to make things better for the team," she said. "Coach Barbo let me know when to pick it up a notch when it was needed, all the girls on the team got the idea, and we got it done to new levels this year, which is something we all can cherish as memories for the rest of our lives."

Barbo's Eagles, in a possible partial rebuilding year, reached new heights.

"It was a great season for us as a team," she said. "Not a whole lot of it came from me. The girls just put in the extra work they had to put in in the offseason with the idea that they wanted to come out this year and get the biggest bang for their buck they could get.

"Maybe the best, and strongest thing, we've achieved at Lakeside since I got here was developing senior leadership that helped each team to be stronger while filtering all the way down into the program at lower levels," Pisano said. "We had a good group of seniors last year, but this year we only had two seniors to look to, Emilio and Rashaad Bell. They stepped up and did the job, and the leadership they showed was passed down to this year's sophomores, who will then pass down what they learn to the younger players as well.

"Emilio was a great tool to start from this year. At first, when he was younger, he was just a good post player. He worked hard, developed into a shooter and defender and shot blocker as well this year, and that will help us build up from the seventh-grade level to the top."

That philosophy must be working, as the Dragons have improved each season since Pisano arrived from Erie four years ago. His team reached a new level for the fledgling Lakeside program as it battled a state Final Four team, Mentor, all the way before falling in the Division I district semifinals. It takes talent to pull that off, for sure, but also a solid work ethic.

Parks said he just had a load of fun, worked hard and reaped the rewards of his efforts. His season this year was a little different from last, when he had seniors Ace Jones, Joe Kelly and Fred Scruggs providing the leadership role for the team.

"Actually, we knew this was going to be a little rebuilding year, and nobody really expected us to be so strong," Parks said. "We knew we would be young, so we just needed to work harder on basic fundamentals. We got it done, and it helped us to achieve a great level of success for the Lakeside program."

Now, Parks is contemplating his next step.

"I haven't made any final decisions yet as to where I'd like to play basketball in college yet," the jovial and peaceful enforcer for the Dragons said. "I'd really like to play at the Division I level if I can. I'm kind of leaning to St. Joseph's of Indiana, Lake Erie College in Painesville or Gannon University in Erie. It's a tough thing to choose right now, but I'm hoping to be able to come to a decision by sometime in May."

Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.