PA Boys Basketball starting lineup sits on the bench before home game.

The 2025-2026 PA boys basketball season is well underway, with the boys achieving a 4-1 regional record and a 7-1 record overall, placing second in the region. The team opened up the season 1-0 with a nail-biting win against Indian River High School, 60-56, on Dec. 1, and continued their winning streak through their first five games, starting the new season 5-0. They had notable wins against schools such as Kempsville High School and Green Run High School, with second-year head coach Gregory Montgomery and seniors Nico McIntyre and Aidan McKeating leading the charge. 

This season, the team is taking on a different identity from years prior, the “Blvd Boys”. McKeating is the one behind the nickname stating, “Coach texted asking what our motto should be and I texted back right away and said, ‘Let’s be the the Blvd Boys’. McIntyre expressed, “We’re showcasing what we are, who we are, and what we stand for.” The nickname originated from PA being located right on Virginia Beach Boulevard and the PA girls basketball team being nicknamed the “Blvd Queens”.  

The team put in a lot of work in the offseason for this kind of start. McKeating remarked, “We had a lot of morning workouts,” and Montgomery added to this by saying, “We had workouts four or five times a week with constant workouts and conditioning.” They also participated in team bonding activities, including swimming and hanging out at teammates’ houses in the offseason.

“We got closer, we made it a stable offseason to hang together as a team more,” McKeating explains. “You got to know your teammates; that’s a crucial part.” 

This season, many of the team’s essential players are seniors, including McKeating and McIntyre. McKeating explained, “I want to go out with a bang. I want to win a regional championship and a state championship. I definitely want more.” McIntyre added, “We go into every season with the same goal: to win a regional and state championship. You want to be more eager every season; it’s not a different goal but a different hunger.” 

It’s not just the players who have this mentality, but also Coach Montgomery, or “Coach Phe” to the team, noting, “I’m a little more motivated for this one. I’m just a little more locked in.” It would be normal for coaches to feel a sense of pressure or urgency to succeed with many players in their last season, but Montgomery said, “Of course, you want the team to succeed, but no pressure, we’re just kind of enjoying it.” 

After a perfect 5-0 start to the season, the boys went against undefeated Landstown on their home court and lost 85-57. McKeating commented, “I think it kind of brought us back down to earth. We needed something like that to get us back on track.”

“Our big thing here at PA is to turn the page; we had to bounce back and not let it affect us,” McIntyre said. And bounce back they did. After the loss, the team went on a two-game winning streak, defeating Phoebus High School 70-50 and Ocean Lakes High School 79-50. 

Montgomery added to this by saying, “It is super important to bounce back; you always want to turn a page. You know life is all about fighting adversity.” McIntyre agrees, “It was important just getting back in the win column; it was pretty fulfilling for us.”

The “Blvd Boys” are second in the region with 13 games left. The team is attempting to carry the momentum and mindset from these wins throughout the rest of the season. McKeating put an emphasis on this saying, “We just have to keep plugging away and take it one game at a time. We have to just take care of what’s in front of us.” Similarly, Montgomery added, “Just taking it day by day, trying to win one game at a time. I think we’re on a good track right now.” 

The next three games for the team are home versus Kellam High School on Jan. 9, home against Hampton High School on Jan. 10, and then home versus Cox High School on Jan. 16.