Buchholz and Eastside boys basketball have spent most of their history in the back seat.
Yes, the schools are 60 years younger than Gainesville High. But even in the now 55 years the three schools have coexisted, the Hurricanes have dominated the scene.
GHS has three state titles (1999, 2000 and 2009) to Eastside’s one (2006) and Buchholz’s zero.
Did a tide turn this season? Time will tell, but the Bobcats and Rams are hopeful.
Both programs reached the Region Final this season, despite missing the postseason in 2025. The Rams, in fact, won a combined eight games over the past two seasons. The ‘Cats, meanwhile, advanced to the postseason for the second time in Elliot Harris’ third season at BHS.
This season marked something different. EHS turned up the heat at the exact right time and upset top-seeded North Marion in the region semifinals. BHS embarked on a nice end-of-season stretch of its own, including handing Newberry its first loss in Alachua County in almost two years.
Although both journeys ended Saturday in the region final, there are plenty of reasons for optimism with the two programs.
Buchholz did have five seniors this season, including Jamison Mctureous and Evan Walker, but leading scorer Jacob Bromirski returns for his senior season.
Harris, a coaching legend, saw immense growth from Bromirski. The junior averaged 14.6 points per game. The talent has always been there, but after playing out of position last season, he was held back.
“This year, he played a wing, so he was able to get outside and shoot the ball,” Harris said.
Harris said the biggest growth he hopes to see from Bromirski is in the leadership department. His scoring is certainly there, but with vocal leaders like Walker gone, thar burden now falls to Bromiriski in the fall.
“He’s going to have to step up his game defensively and lead us a little more vocally, but he’ll have a big year,” Harris said.
Over on the east side, Pop Williams returns nearly all his team. It’s something Williams took note when the postseason began – a feeling of almost that everything was gravy.
Then the Rams won two playoff games, and now, the future is high.
Junior Jaivion Williams, who led the team in scoring, hopes the positive momentum taken from this season leads into next.
“We need to come in with a better attitude, so we can win more games,” Williams said. “There were still games we lost this year we shouldn’t have.”
For Pop, another legend, this season provided the jolt of energy needec to continue coaching.
“Deep down, I didn’t know if we had it this season, but then I started seeing stuff and we were peaking, and I started feeling good about the season.”
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1 and on Instagram @Ramreporter. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Buchholz, Eastside boys basketball awaiting bright futures after playoff run
Reporting by Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
