MOORE — Braydon Powell will have the chance to do something not many high school athletes will ever do. One week after suiting in a game up for Southmoore, the junior will play against the SaberCats tonight wearing a Lions jersey after enrolling at Moore High late last week.
MHS coach Aaron Howell didn’t reveal why Powell decided to leave Southmoore, but he said he will use the big man.
“I have no idea how it happened,” Howell said. “I really don’t know. I got a call and e-mail saying that he had transferred over. Everything is legal. He has moved back over into the Moore district. So I take it at that. That’s how we are taking it and we are going to run with it.”
Powell’s departure from Southmoore would not be classified as a normal transfer, according to Moore School District Athletic Facilitator Carl Franks.
“First of all Braydon Powell is not a transfer,” Franks said. “He’s a bonafide move from one attendance area to another. If you move one residence to another residence and you happen to change attendance area, that’s a bona fide move.”
Powell was at his first MHS practice Monday and Howell knows what the 6-8 post player can add to a team in need of more height and strength in the middle. The Lions are 5-2, but have been roughed up in the paint most of the year.
“This year we really haven’t had a post game,” Howell said. “Most of our guys are guards. So he will give us an inside presence. A little bit more rebounding. A little bit more toughness inside. We will be able to run a little bit bigger zone and have some more inside scoring so as to not have to depend on Dorian (Gigger) for all the inside scoring.”
Powell was at the center of another transferring controversy when he left the Moore district before his freshman year and transferred into Southmoore. He played under coach Wes Brown the past two seasons and entered this year with high expectations.
Powell helped power the SaberCats to a 3-1 record before losing 66-51 to rival Westmoore Dec. 11. After the game, a frustrated Powell could be seen outside the locker room waiting on the coaches to exit.
“This team, they were arguing with each other, griping at each other,” Brown said after the loss to the Jaguars. “We pulled apart at the seams when thing got going tough. We have some work to do as far as pulling back together, supporting each other, not being selfish, not just wanting playing time. The team has got to get better.”
That was the last time Powell wore a Southmoore uniform.
According to Howell, Powell enrolled at Moore High Thursday morning and said he is eligible to play tonight against his former team.
“From my understanding, he is eligible to play right now,” Howell said. “We will see how things go today. If he can get caught and help us, he is a member of this team, he’s over here in our district. We will see. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. We will go it at like that. If he plays, he plays. If he don’t, he don’t.”
However, Franks said he doesn’t see that happening that fast.
“He will be eligible to play once he clears all the eligibility review that has to be done for a bonafide move into the district,” Franks said. “As soon as the address and everything is bona fide. Our rules and regulations are very similar to the activities association. Anytime you have a id that has moved into your school district after the school year has started, you have a 15-day waiting period that gives you the opportunity to check out everything.”
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