The Jacksonville boys' varsity team burst out of the starting gate getting two wins to start off the season. The Golden Eagles easily beat White Plains 56-30 and won a hard-fought victory over Southside 59-47.

The Golden Eagles will take on Sycamore on Wednesday night and will travel to Guntersville on Saturday night.

The scheduled game with Piedmont tonight has been cancelled since Piedmont continues with its football season.

The Eagles had no trouble with a young White Plains team in their season opener. Second year Head Coach Anthony Kingston was able to go to his bench early and often to give his reserves valuable playing time.

Jacksonville led 32-10 at the half and was able to coast from there.

The Eagles were led in scoring by Tristan Garmon who had 14 points in fifteen minutes of playing time. Sophomore Tyler Ross had an impressive outing with 12 points while captain Ethan Maske put in 10 points.

Kingston, while happy with the win, saw areas for improvement with his team. "We got a little lax toward the end of the game," said Kingston.

"Good teams play all four quarters. We shouldn't have any letdowns."

Kingston was very complimentary of a very young White Plains team. "They started three sophomores which will payoff in the long run for them," noted Kingston. "I love their intensity. They played hard, they didn't give up. They kept scrapping and went after the loose ball."

Against Southside, the Eagles led from start to finish but were in a dogfight. Ahead 12-9 after the first quarter the Eagles went into the locker room at the half 28-24.

Kingston had many of his starters in early foul trouble in the first half and was resigned to putting them on the bench. Garmon picked up two first quarter fouls and one in the second while Maske also was whistled with two fouls in the first quarter.

Southside kept the pressure on in the third quarter but in the fourth quarter the Eagles started to pull away and came out with the 59-47 victory.

The Eagles, who had made 7-of-12 free throws against White Plains in the opening game, improved at the line against Southside hitting 14-of-17 from the charity stripe.

Maske scored 17 points and had six assists and three rebounds for the Eagles while Garmon had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds and also had four blocks.

Jordan Shelvin added nine points for Jacksonville.

"Our guys played hard and with poise and focus" said Kingston. "They played as a mature team. We kept our composure in the fourth quarter and finished them off."