At first glance, there isn’t a whole lot to Woodlawn Preparatory School. While Woodlawn Church is a massive cathedral in comparison to the rest of Marion County, the school itself is one large square. But at the center of that square is the beating heart of the school’s pride — a basketball court that is home to a program that has already made history and is most certainly on the rise.
This past season, the Wolfpack were unbelievable with a 20-4 record and went a perfect 10-0 in district play and capped it all off with the program’s first district title. They managed all that in just their third season playing at the varsity level, producing a level of success that is unheard of in a program that remains in its infancy.
The outside perception of Woodlawn Prep prior to the season was that its basketball program wasn’t anything to take seriously. But that all changed as the Wolfpack won 20 games and earned respect not only in the county but throughout the MAIS landscape.
Starting a new program from scratch is difficult by any standard, but there was more to it at Woodlawn. The school started in 2015 with only elementary students. As the school progressed, older students transferred in, but this year was the first time Woodlawn had a true senior class.
The program started five years ago when starting guard Wallace Farmer was an eighth grader, but he was surrounded by all fifth graders and one sixth grader while playing for Britt Ham. That first year Woodlawn didn’t play in any games and instead just practiced.
“It was tough in the beginning, playing basketball with fifth graders every day. They were terrible,” Farmer said frankly. “They had never played basketball before or any kind of sports really.”
For a while, Farmer felt out of place because he was older and more developed than everybody else. When the Wolfpack started playing games in 2018, they only played junior varsity games with Farmer, who was only a freshman, as their oldest player. The 2019-2020 season was the first time Woodlawn played varsity games, and the Wolfpack went 0-9 as they were playing with several middle schoolers. Only one of those nine games was a single-digit loss, a 49-41 loss to Rebul Academy.
“That season, our kids realized, ‘We don’t want to continue down this road. We want to get better,’” head coach Cliff East said. “The other thing was we had so many kids that were seventh graders at that point that were literally playing a junior high game then turning around and playing a varsity game because we were still growing as the school was growing.”
That offseason was when everything changed. In came superstar shooting guard Brock Reed, and a culture of winning was born.
The Wolfpack earned the program’s first-ever varsity win over Jubilee Performing Arts Center 70-35 on Nov. 10, 2020. Two months later, with the Wolfpack 5-4, Woodlawn traveled to Woodville to take on Wilkinson County Christian Academy, the best team on its schedule that season, and was blown out 83-41 in a game Farmer missed.
Three days later, though, WCA traveled to Columbia for a rematch for a game that proved to be the turning point for the program. Although Woodlawn ultimately lost 59-52, it was a three-point game with 30 seconds left.
“We kind of knew at that point that, ‘Hey, we’re here to stay. We’re not going to back down from competition no matter how much bigger, better, faster, more athletic they are than us,’” Farmer said. “We knew we belonged here, and that’s when the mindset changed for us.”
Woodlawn would go on to lose to WCA in the district championship last season, but the Wolfpack got their revenge Nov. 20, 2021, beating WCA 49-47 in an early-season tournament.
“That same school beat us by (68) points my sophomore year, and we beat them this year. It’s kind of come full circle and has been a lot of fun to watch,” Farmer said.
Reed’s arrival made a big difference, but there was more to it than that. The ascension didn’t just happen overnight — they worked their butts off for years, according to Farmer.
Those same fifth graders, who Farmer said were terrible back in 2018, became a driving force in Woodlawn’s record-breaking season this year. Now freshmen, Cole Sinclair (Woodlawn’s second-leading scorer), Drayson Patterson (4.3 points per game), Jack Carney and Ethan Bullock all played important minutes for the Wolfpack.
“The ninth graders really stepped up. To think these kids are ninth graders and playing at the level they’re playing at, it’s incredible to watch, especially knowing where they started,” Farmer said. “I love to use Drayson Patterson as an example. Kid had never played sports — I think he played Dean Griner baseball — and he didn’t have an athletic bone in his body. And he’s worked his butt off for the past four years, and he’s a specimen now.”
Woodlawn Prep senior Wallace Farmer has been with the Wolfpack since the program began when he was an eighth grader. He said it’s been a crazy ride with how everything came full circle.
Most high school teams utilize 3-point shooting as an added bonus and typically only have one or two legitimate shooters on the floor at a time. What made the Wolfpack so dangerous was they could roll out a small-ball lineup with five skilled shooters that defenses didn’t know how to defend.
“You could take Brock out of the game if you wanted to, but we still had Cole Sinclair, Wallace Farmer, Braylon Reed, Drayson Patterson — all these guys that can score, not to mention guys down low,” East said. “We became a matchup problem for so many teams because we had so many guys who could shoot from the outside.”
The added benefit of the 3-ball is the instant offense effect. Woodlawn wasn’t behind in games often, but it did play in several close games. In many of those games, the Wolfpack were able to turn a six-point lead into a 12-point lead in the matter of moments, all but assuring victory.
On the court, Reed is a bonafide star and has earned the recognition of being selected as a MAIS All-Star and a Magnolia State All-Star. He’s an elite shooter from behind the arc on top of being a true three-level scorer who can score just as easily in the paint as he can rising up for pull-up jumpers from mid-range. He plays a lot like the instrument he has grown to love over the past six months — the piano. Since the early 18th century, the piano has helped create poetry in sound. Since Reed was a seventh grader, basketball has been his outlet to create poetry in motion.
Reed navigates the floor and probes defenses in ways that are eerily similar to Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, albeit at a high school level. In most cases, shooters like Reed are placed into boxes unfairly. They are believed to be catch-and-shoot specialists who need help to create their own shot. But that couldn’t be further from the truth with Reed, just like it’s far from the truth about Curry.
Sure, Reed knocks down corner 3-pointers off the catch every game, but the majority of his shots come from his own making. He is adeptly skilled at reading defenses, attacking mismatches and getting to the perfect spot to get off a clean look.
Every athlete who strives to get just a fraction better each and every day studies the games of the greats, looking to find new things to incorporate into their own game. For Reed, the two players he looks to the most are Brooklyn Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving and Boston Celtics all-star forward Jayson Tatum. Although he always liked the late, great Kobe Bryant, Reed admitted his game never really resembled Bryant’s, so he honed in on the likes of Irving and Tatum, who he said is a “smooth guy to watch.” He studied their handles and footwork to learn how they could always get to their favorite spots on the floor regardless of what the defense threw at them.
Before joining the Wolfpack at Woodlawn Prep, Reed was homeschooled and played with the Southwest Knights out of Lake Charles, La. Reed had family in the area and knew Farmer, but it was the church that made him want to join the little-known private school.
He came in knowing Woodlawn went 0-9 during the 2019-2020 season, but he had a lot of faith that the program could take a step forward.
“The freshmen obviously stepped up miles ahead of what they were,” Reed said. “We really came together as a team. At recess every day, you could see the boys all playing basketball like every time they get a free chance. It’s just like a big unit — we’re all like one family. I think that unity is what pushed us to be better.”
One of the most important moments in the evolution of Woodlawn Prep basketball was the arrival of Brock Reed, who gave the Wolfpack a go-to scorer and a legitimate superstar.
In Reed’s first season with the Wolfpack, Woodlawn went 9-8 and 8-2 in district play as he scored 24.3 points per game. And despite his scoring average dropping to 18.7 as a senior — primarily due to taking less shots — his efficiency went up, and it made the Wolfpack a better team.
“Other guys stepped up, and we were a more balanced team,” East said.
That balance led to Reed’s favorite moment donning the Woodlawn Prep blue.
“The district title, that was sick,” he said. “That was just as special to us. It was the first time ever in history to do that. Knowing that our team did it and beat all the other teams — there was a little bit of a rivalry there with Sharkey (Issaquena Academy), too — that’s just the ideal way to end a senior year.”
Coming off the remarkable regular season and historic district tournament, the Wolfpack earned a first-round bye in the Class 2A Tournament and ultimately matched up with West Memphis Christian, who beat the Wolfpack 51-40 and finished third in 2A. While West Memphis was certainly talented and a major step up from the competition Woodlawn faced in District 2, the Wolfpack were in the game until the very end despite having to endure their worst shooting night of the season.
As much as Woodlawn wanted to advance to the semifinals, the players and coaching staff knew they were the underdog and weren’t supposed to win.
“They were just athletes,” Reed said. “They were just big. I do think we could have played better than we did, so that was disappointing because we could have won that game, but I’m not disappointed with how the season ended. I don’t think anyone was. Just getting to state alone was a huge accomplishment and a step up for our school.”
It’s that type of foresight — teenagers that have the wherewithal to recognize the bigger picture — that makes this basketball program different, and it circles back to what the school is all about.
Even the students recognize that Woodlawn Prep isn’t a conventional school, but the private school takes that label of being an unconventional school and turns into an advantage. The school, which is a lot like the church in this regard, is one big family, and all of the teachers and staff are always willing to help in any way they can. Students describe it as being “student friendly” and love that they can get one-on-one instruction from teachers. That kind of environment has trickled into the basketball team.
“Any one of us would take a bullet for each other, literally,” Reed said. “We’re all brothers and stick together. We’re all joking around and laughing 80% of the time, so it is special. We all go to church together, so we see each other pretty much every day of the week. They’re all my brothers.”
Reed has his sights set on playing college ball but will only attend college if he gets to continue hooping. If he isn’t offered a scholarship, he plans on working for his dad’s real estate company.
East initially was hired as the youth pastor at Woodlawn 10 years ago and moved into the assistant pastor role five years ago. During the process of the school trying to transition from being only in the classroom into fielding a basketball team, he was approached about leading the program. At that time, he had two young boys and said no despite being from basketball country in Indiana and having the passion and knowledge to do it.
So Ham was tabbed to lead the program, but after the first year, he was unable to continue as the head coach. The administration approached East once again about the position, and this time he caved and agreed to be the head coach. Little did he know at the time what exactly was in store for him — being the coach of a record-setting team in just four short years.
While Reed and Farmer are graduating, they, along with fellow seniors Brett Dykes and Grant Vowell, laid a foundation for success that Woodlawn can build on for continued success. East acknowledged that Reed likely accelerated Woodlawn’s timeline two or three years further than where it would have been without him, but he believes there is still enough talent in place to win games.
He pointed to the freshmen class (those “terrible” fifth graders) as being a group that can keep the Wolfpack from dropping off next year.
“I think sometimes they deferred to Brock because he was so good, and it will be an interesting thing without him because we did rely on him so heavily, but I do think we will have some other guys — maybe even his little brother (Braylon Reed), along with Cole Sinclair and Drayson — I expect that trio to really step it up and take it to the next level,” he said.
The Wolfpack of future years have a lot to live up to, and time will tell how much this still new program can rise. But there is one undeniable fact they can hang their hat on — they have arrived.
