Sophomore forward Tyler Cross, a transfer from Horizon, leads The Rock in scoring. Cross is one of the reasons the Warriors have had a dramatic turnaround this season.

School with second-smallest enrollment in section 13 wins better than last season

The Rock Academy launched its high school in Point Loma in September 2007 and finished 3-10 in its first varsity basketball season last winter. This season, it is the Warriors basketball program that has taken off, improving their record by 13 wins, one of the biggest turnarounds in the section.

“We expected to be solid,” said The Rock’s head coach and athletic director Zack Jones. “I didn’t know how good we were going to be. I knew from what we had done last year and the prep over the summer that we would be solid.”

The Rock has done this without a home court or even a court to practice on. The Warriors practice and play home games at the Salvation Army Gym in Clairemont, an 11-minute drive from their Point Loma campus.

“When we have an evening game, it’s full in here,” Jones said. The Rock has also had success this season in spite of their small enrollment. The nine players on the Warriors’ varsity team make up 22 percent of the school’s 9-12 enrollment, the second smallest high school in the section.

The school was started as an extension of The Rock church in Linda Vista in 2002 with 38 students from kindergarten through sixth grade. One year later, the school added seventh and eighth grade, and in 2007 the high school opened its doors. The Rock Academy has a kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment of 323 students.

Jones said a lack of numbers and facilities are the program’s biggest challenges. But neither of those factors have held the Warriors back this season.

“The kids make up for that with attitude and the support from the parents has been tremendous – getting rides back and forth from our facility to wherever we need to go,” Jones said.

“That’s brought the team closer together, brought the parents closer together. It’s like a family. So even though we don’t have facilities, it has helped enhance the unity of the program.”

Whatever the Warriors’ formula this season, it has worked. The program that did not even belong to a league last season finished 16-2 overall and ended up second in the Frontier League with a 10-2 record.

“We got good solid kids that put in work during the summer,” Jones said. “And we got a couple kids that came in that were a little bit more skilled. That helped the program out.”

The Rock’s two new players are both starters, guard Jivin Kissoon (transferred from Eastlake) and forward Tyler Cross. Cross, who transferred from Horizon, leads the team in scoring, averaging 23.5 points per game.

The Rock’s success relative to the age of their program and school has been surprising. Jones said the Warriors have also surprised their fair share of opponents.

“I’m sure there’s been a bit of surprise,” Jones said. “We’re so young and new that teams don’t really have the chance to get out and scout and see previous years. So I’m sure a lot of teams have been surprised by the talent that we have this year.”

If The Rock needs a model for small school hoops success, they need look no farther then the top of their own league. Maranatha Christian has an enrollment of 61 and finished unbeaten in the Frontier League – the Eagles are ranked eighth in the section with an overall record of 23-3.

“Maranatha is the team that’s been really really solid, Foothills [Christian] has been really really good,” Jones said. Those teams have been doing a great job and we still have a ways to go to compete on that level.”

“We’re trying to build that. We’re definitely trying to build it,” Jones said. “It takes time.”

It may not take The Rock Academy that long.