Adams County Christian School basketball coach Richy Spears has a firm opinion on making contact.

This season, Spears wants his team to do a lot of it.

“You have to be physical,” he said. “When we get to where we hope to go, everybody will get up and guard. You have to be able to handle it.”

Preparedness is not the only benefit to strong defense, either, Spears said.

“We hope to get up and pressure people. We want to make them make mistakes, and we have to capitalize on it,” he said. “If we can let defense turn into offense, we will be fine.”

Spears said by the time district play comes around, he wants to be able to see all of his players following his game plan. Until then, however, he said those who step up to the challenge will receive the playing time.

“I think we will be pretty athletic and we will have some speed. We also have depth,” he said. “It’s good to have depth sometimes, but sometimes it’s not. You have to play defense and rebound before anything.

“It doesn’t matter if we score 80. If they score 90, we get beat.”

The Rebels will be led by five seniors, including guards Julian Wilson and Josh Day.

The experience, Spears said, should help tremendously.

“Julian was the only one last year who could handle the ball, and thankfully this year we have more people who can step up and do that,” he said. “It won’t wear him out as quick.”

As ACCS looks to find just the right balance in its lineup, Spears said he is willing to experiment.

“We are still trying to figure out what we got and move different people around,” he said. “The good thing is I have a bunch of people who can play different positions, we just have to have confidence in each other.

“We are trying to stay within ourselves and play as a team. It’s a bunch of good kids.”