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SPORTS
Cottrill leaving Poca High for Beckley school
Noah Cottrill makes a quick move against Winfield last season at Poca High School.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON — Basketball standout Noah Cottrill has an insatiable desire to always get better.
And, he knows that desire often comes with sacrifice.
Cottrill is making the biggest sacrifice and toughest decision of his life — leaving his friends and coaches at Poca High School and transferring to Mountain State Academy in Beckley.
“I love my teammates and coach at Poca, but I wanted to excel on a different level,” Cottrill said. “It wasn’t my teammates. It was my opponents. I want to challenge myself every day.”
Cottrill, the nation’s No. 45 high school prospect in the Class of 2010 according to Rivals.com, will face some of the nation’s top teams this season at Mountain State Academy, a private school with about 130 students. The Falcons are not a member of the Secondary School Activities Commission, which prohibits recruiting, and can’t play for state championships.
The Falcons will host Oak Hill (Va.) Academy, a perennial Top 25 powerhouse, along with The Patterson School out of North Carolina. Playing such solid competition was a major drawing point for Cottrill.
“We play big-time top 25 schools every other day,” the 6-foot-2 guard said. “I’m amped up and hopefully people follow that and support us.”
Not only was Cottrill interested in the value of playing better competition, he also was drawn to having competitive practices with NCAA Division-I caliber players.
As a sophomore last season, he averaged nearly 31 points per game and finished second to Bridgeport’s Bryant Irwin in voting for West Virginia’s high school basketball player of the year.
“I want someone to want my job every day. I don’t want anything given to me,” Cottrill said. “All Division I basketball players are going to be playing. It makes me better to practice against players that are on that level.”
Cottrill’s main focus was on getting prepared for his future at West Virginia University, where he verbally committed as a freshman.
The move to Mountain State Academy was rumored since prior to Cottrill’s sophomore year at Poca, but he said it wasn’t until two weeks ago that he discussed the prospects of leaving.
Even then, Cottrill said the thoughts of leaving Poca were difficult to deal with, so he turned to his brother Ricky for guidance. Ricky Cottrill was also a Poca star who went on to play for Mid-American Conference member Eastern Michigan.
Noah Cottrill said the talk made him feel better about the move.
“My brother is the biggest inspiration in my life. I’ll call him for any advice and he’ll be honest,” he said. “If he wasn’t for (the move), he’d tell me that, but it wasn’t like that when we talked.
“He loved Poca and Coach (Allen) Osborne, too, but he thought it should be my decision and that I needed to do what was best for me.”
After some thinking, Cottrill decided Mountain State Academy was best for not only his prep future, but also his collegiate future.
“I want to go to West Virginia as a freshman and contribute heavily to the team. That’s what I based my decision on,” Cottrill said. “I’m really excited, man. That is one of the biggest basketball towns in West Virginia, and hopefully, once they see us winning, they will come in and support us.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
