The Florala Wildcats know they have a bright future ahead for their boys’ basketball program.

“These next few years we could do a lot of damage,” Florala head coach Troy Turman said. “If we stay healthy and keep learning, this team has a very high ceiling.”

After a strong start to the year, Florala’s season came to an end early this week in the Class 1A sub regionals against Georgiana.

“We started off the year hot,” Turman said. “Then in the middle of the year we kind of hit a lull, but I think that was because we were so young. We just had some growing pains, but things really started to pick up around the time of the Andalusia Christmas tournament. We got to the meat of our schedule, faced some adversity and we started to get better. We still have to work on getter tougher and stronger.”

There were several games that Turman said stuck out this year for the Wildcats.

“One game that sticks out is when played Elba at home,” Turman said. “We got down 19-6 and fought back to take control of the game. That was our biggest win of the season. Then when we played Elba in the area championship, we were dealing with injuries and some other issues. Our best scorer (Rashaad Coleman) sprained his ankle the game before and was out for a solid week.”

The Brantley win, in which Coleman sprained his ankle, was a defining moment for the team, Turman said.

“In the area tournament against Brantley, we go up 7-2 and Rashaad goes down with the sprained ankle,” Turman said. “When he went down, our team stepped up and showed what type of team that we are. We filled in and kept chugging along. Even without our best scorer, we were still able to play excellent. Guys stepped up and showed that we are more than just one player.

Turman said he was pleased with what he saw this year, but wants to see continued growth from the Wildcats.

“We got a taste of success this year,” Turman said. “We competed night in and night out in a very tough area. I was very pleased with the year and the season. This season gave us a good boost for the future.”

Looking to next year, Turman said he is excited about the future.

“The future is, Florala is basically one of the top teams coming up,” Turman said. “We just have to keep growing and getting better. This offseason we will continue to work on approving different aspects of our game. I think this program is on the rise. We haven’t done anything special yet, but this puts us on path to do something special.”