The past year of high school basketball in Pike County has been one that was mixed with both loss and triumph.

Unfortunately, for the Bulldogs of Pike County High School, their loss was worse than anything experienced on the court.

Junior Jarred “Bubba” Snell was found unresponsive by his mother, Kim, and was later pronounced dead at the Troy Regional Medical Center upon arrival.

Snell died at the age of 18 to natural causes.

“He worked extremely hard and he was well-liked by the faculty,” PCHS Principal Mike Hall said earlier this year about Snell.

“He was also an excellent athlete for us – we will miss him a lot and I will miss our daily talks about sports.

“He was the epitome of what we ask our students to be here at Pike County,” Hall added.

As for the rest of his teammates, PCHS finished with a 19-9 overall record, with its season coming to an end the day after Snell’s death in the AHSAA Class 3A South Regional semifinal to the hands of Central.

As for the current season, things may not have gone as planned to start the season off for first year head coach Will Moguel and company.

The Bulldogs are just 2-5, however, the team has a chance to make up for lost ground once area play kicks off at the beginning of Jan.

There were only four other teams that were able to advance to the postseason – two of them coming from the same school.

Both the boys’ and girls’ Pike Liberal Arts teams made it to the AISA State Basketball playoffs.

The boys’ were knocked off by Tuscaloosa in the first round of the tournament while the girls’ were able to advance to the semifinals before falling short to eventual champion, Lee-Scott.

Both teams have picked up where they left off from earlier in the year in the new season as the teams have jumped out to nice records before region play begins.

The girls’ team is currently ranked No. 4 AISA poll as well.

The other team to advance to the playoffs last season was the varsity girls’ team from Goshen.

The Eagles hosted the 2A Sub-Regional for time in two years.

This season the new, the girls have gotten off to a sluggish start, falling to a 2-5 overall record.

The boys’ team showed progress from previous seasons last season, by winning four games.

However, thanks to a youth heavy squad this season, the Eagles have yet to soar – thanks to an 0-8 record.

Coming off one of its best seasons in years, the Charles Henderson boys’ team got off to a hot start this season.

Even though the Trojans failed to make it past the area tournament last season, the team had eight wins, which was the most in two seasons.

This season, the team got off to a quick 4-1 start however, have begun to slip some, losing four-in-a-row going into 2010.

The last team to make the playoff last season was the CHHS girls’ team.

The team advanced all the way to the second round of the AHSAA Class 5A state playoffs, before falling to LeFlore.

The Trojans finished with an overall record of 14-13.