Last season, the Charles Henderson Trojans finished with a Area championship and an appearance in the quarterfinals in the state playoffs.

But all that is in the past.

Now, the Trojans will be looking to best their efforts from 2009 while remembering what the team has done in the past.

“Hopefully, we will be able to build off of the last couple of seasons,” head coach Derek Irons said.

“I feel pretty good about this team.

“We have already dealt with some adversity this season thanks to the weather, injuries and sickness, but the team has responded well to it,” he added.

Though the Trojans lost nine seniors to graduation last season, Irons said he expects some of his younger players to be able to fill up the spots left behind.

“[Losing players] is part of what you have to deal with.

It may be something that hurts us early on, and coaches are always uneasy at the start of the season.

“Once our guys get comfortable in their spots and gain confidence I think this will be a good time,” he said.

The coach mentioned two of his players who he believes are going to be major contributors in 2010 – Mitch McLeod and Nathan Barron.

“I think both players are going to set the tone for the younger guys – they are going to be big parts of this season’s club.

One aspect of the team the coach believes will be strong is its pitching rotation, where the Trojans will have a lot of depth thanks to its nine pitchers.

“I think we are going to be pretty good one on the mound this season,” Irons said.

“We have kids that are able to throw strikes, get the defense in play and give us wins.”

However, one aspect that the coach believes his team needs in improvement on is one that every team works on at the beginning of the season.

“Team chemistry and being comfortable playing on this level are two of the things this team will need to work on,” Irons said.

“We have some young guys on the team this year who are quality players, but haven’t really played [on the varsity level] yet.

“The first couple of weeks will be about getting everyone on the same page,” he added.

With the team’s first game against Dothan less than a week way, Irons said he hopes his team is ready. “Hopefully, we will understand this is just the start of the season – and not the end. “We have to go out and earn it everyday and every week. I want us to be playing our best ball in May and not in Feb.,” the coach added.