Team Rampage’s Special Season

“In 2015, Head Coach and Trainer Brandon Bracy, and Director Antonio Hodges, started a new AAU Basketball club out of Solano County called “Team Rampage”. That first season would begin with one varsity team, which featured mostly players from Vallejo and Jesse Bethel High School. After an average season, Coach Bracy knew that he had to recruit better talent in order to compete in the bigger tournaments.

A year later, Coach Bracy was able to bring in players from Texas, Modesto, Benicia, Fairfield, and Antioch, to mesh with the talent he already had from Vallejo. The talent would mesh extremely well, as Team Rampage stormed off to a 22-5 record over a two month period.

Benicia’s Trey Pugh and Kade Lockrem would provide scoring and outside shooting for the group. Pugh was able to become one of the top scorers on the team, while Lockrem who is only a sophomore, was able to provide scoring off the bench. Riverbank’s Nik Keydeniers and American Canyon’s Gamon Howard, were two of the starters for Coach Bracy’s group, as they were a force on the defensive end. Thomas McDonald (Alhambra) and Jonathon Rice (St. Mary’s of Berkeley) were also key new components during the 22-5 start, as they provided leadership, and were both excellent rebounders for the group. Rounding up the roster were the four returnees from Jesse Bethel High School, Malcolm Bracy, Zarrion Walton, Dakarria Peterson, and Deangelo Gomez. Bracy and Gomez were starters, Peterson was the 6th man on a extremely deep team, and Walton was an excellent defender and rebounder off the bench.

Despite the 22-5 start for the club, there were personnel problems to be addressed moving forward. Jonathon Rice decided to end his AAU run with Team Rampage, and focus on his role with Diablo Valley College, and Thomas McDonald was forced to return to Houston, Texas for the summer to visit his family. With two big losses for the club, Coach Bracy was able to bring in three key players to complete the season. Jacob Long from Deer Valley would be the first addition. Long played varsity as a sophomore at Deer Valley, and is well known for his ability shoot the ball from the outside. The second addition would be Elijah Johnson from Armijo High School, a very athletic guard, who jumps extremely well. The last addition would be Rajon Washington of Vallejo High School, who is a three sport athlete, and runs the floor and finishes at the rim well.

With the new additions, Coach Bracy and his team was ready to make a run in the Big Foot Hoops Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2015, Team Rampage finished 1-3 in the tournament, losing in the first round in the Bronze division. 2016 would be different, as Team Rampage went 3-0 in their pool, and won its first two games of bracket play, setting up a Bay Area matchup with The Crew in the Elite 8 round. After a long and hard fought game, The Crew was able to get the win 72-62, eliminating Team Rampage.

Despite the heart breaking loss, Team Rampage Varsity Elite was able to finish the year 31-7, and several players are receiving interest from Division 2 schools such as Chico State, Sonoma State, Menlo College, California Maritime Academy, and more. Seniors Malcolm Bracy, Deangelo Gomez, Dakarria Peterson and Rajon Washington, will be playing Junior College ball this fall. Team Rampage Director Antonio Hodges said “Coach Brandon Bracy has really pushed these guys through his training, and hard nose coaching, to the point where our seniors are ready for college ball, and our incoming juniors and seniors, are ready to have a monster year at their high schools”.

Coach Brandon Bracy plans to recruit more talented players into the program for the 2017 season, but he knows it will be difficult to duplicate what he did in 2016. Coach Bracy stated, “It will be hard to accomplish what this year’s team has accomplished, but I am ready to work hard so that we have an even better year next year” Either way, Team Rampage has become an household name not just in Solano County, but now in all of California.