The Douglas Bulldog basketball team kicks off its season Tuesday with a 7 p.m. home game against the Cienega Bobcats.

Abe Grijalva is back for his second season looking to improve on last year’s 6-18 overall record that had the Dogs go 1-11 in a very tough Gila Region.

The season has not even begun yet and already the Bulldogs were dealt with some adversity. Abe’s son Spencer who suffered what many thought was a season ending injury in football but managed to come back and play the last game at Amphi, was the victim of a malicious foul in the scrimmage with Benson 10 days ago that left him with a dislocated shoulder.

Hector Grijalva also twisted his ankle that scrimmage and is out indefinitely.

“I’m hoping both of them will be back soon,” he said.

Grijalva has some size this year and is capable of scoring a lot of points.

“We are a lot more balanced than we were last year,” he said. “We have kids that can put the ball in the basket.”

Junior Gabriel Valencia, 6’4”, was seen consistently dunking the ball in practice recently.

That along with the three returners, senior center Jerry Altamirano, senior guard Oliver Mariscal and junior guard Spencer Grijalva give the Bulldogs some much needed experience this year.

“Our first objective is going to be to run and make the uncontested baskets,” he said.

Coach Grijalva is paying a lot more attention to free throws this year having his players consistently shoot free throws during practice.

“We have seen the last several years’ at all three levels we have always struggled at the free throw line,” he said. “It seems we were shooting in the 40-50 percent area. In order for a team to be successful where every point counts – a team needs to average between 70-75 percent on its free throws.”

Grijalva says he has some big players inside who will be getting the ball a lot and with that comes the potential to be fouled where they could be sent to the free throw line.

“For us to be successful they’re going to have to make those free throws,” he said.

The Gila Region is once again tabbed as one of the toughest regions in the state with Palo Verde, Amphi, Sahuarita and Santa Rita all very tough teams.

“We’re in a tough conference; we know the schedule we just need to show up and be competitive,” the coach said. “We have to come together as a team and be willing to work together.”

Grijalva said because of the level of competition in the region his team must play a near perfect game every time it steps onto the court.

“I think we’re going to be competitive,” the coach said. “I think we’re going to surprise some people.”

The coach said of the 10 players he has on the roster, eight of those kids put in some quality gym time in over the summer.

“This summer has been very productive,” the coach said. “We took them to a couple of basketball camps. They spent a lot of time on the court and it’s showing in practice.”

The coach admits he’s excited for the season to start and feels this team has the potential to be the “dark horse” and maybe surprise some teams.

“Our goals are very simple,” he said. “We want to improve from last year and be one of the top four teams in our region and make it to regionals. After that anything can happen.”