News File Photo Senior Chris DeRocher is 29 points away from becoming the new career scoring leader for the Alpena boys basketball program. Entering Tuesday’s home game against Sault Ste. Marie, DeRocher has 1,407 career points and is within striking distance of passing Butch Feher’s record of 1,435 career points set in 1972.

John Pintar never had a doubt.

When he watched Chris DeRocher as an eighth grader, Alpena High’s boys basketball coach saw a tall, lanky, physically gifted player who could anchor his front court for the next four years.

More importantly, he saw a player who, despite his youth, was confident, mentally tough and could handle the challenges of varsity basketball.

“He’s a confident player (who) believed in himself, so even though you’re going into a tough situation, I think he always felt that he could compete,” Pintar said. “That’s the one thing I always look for is (mental toughness). Some nights are going to be a challenge, where you can’t just do the things you’re accustomed to.”

Over nearly four varsity seasons, DeRocher has more than lived up to the potential Pintar saw in him. As the face of Alpena’s program for most of his career, DeRocher has transformed from a skinny freshman, to a versatile, physically powerful senior who’s commitment to hard work and to his team has him on the verge of occupying a special place in program history.

Entering Tuesday’s home game against Sault Ste. Marie, DeRocher has 1,407 career points and is 29 points shy of passing Ray “Butch” Feher’s current record of 1,435.

Last February, DeRocher joined elite company when he became just the fourth Alpena player to score 1,000 career points, joining Feher, Tyler Pintar and Harvey Marlatt. But after finishing his junior season with 1,144 career points-about 300 shy of Feher’s mark, becoming Alpena’s new scoring leader turned into a question of not if, but when.

“It would be amazing. You never really think about that when you enter this program. It’s just crazy to think about how close I am to doing that,” DeRocher said of the record.

Feher established himself as Alpena’s go-to scorer over three seasons from 1969-72 and set a new scoring record on Jan. 11, 1972, passing Harvey Marlatt’s record of 1,056 points.

That Feher’s record has stood for more than 40 years is impressive, considering some of the players who followed him. Scanning the list of career scoring leaders reads like a who’s who of some Alpena’s greatest players with Tyler Pintar, Marlatt, Mike Kollien, Troy Reeder, Luke Cordes and Eric Puls among those on the list.

DeRocher has scored 263 in 11 games this year; an average of 23.9 per game. In 73 career games, DeRocher has a scoring average of 19.2 points per game.

“It’s been a (longstanding) record, there’s been a lot of great players that have come before me that haven’t been able to break it,” DeRocher said. “To think that I possibly could is crazy.”

DeRocher grew up playing basketball from a young age and dreamed of suiting up for the Wildcats. When he finally got that chance, he joined Alpena’s varsity during a period of transition. Alpena won Big North Conference titles during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons and made appearances in the district final both years.

But after the graduation of four seniors, Alpena struggled to a 5-16 finish in DeRocher’s freshman season. DeRocher was immediately penciled in as Alpena’s center and made an impact right away, scoring 15 points in his first home game. He finished the season as Alpena’s points leader, averaging 11.6 points and 7.3 rebounds in 21 games.

“It was obviously crazy, coming into a program I grew up watching and all the success they had in the past five years. You get thrown into that and there’s a lot of expectations and there’s a lot of pressure,” DeRocher said. “To be part of the team and learn as much as I did and learn as I went was pretty intense.”

DeRocher was the tallest kid on youth basketball teams he played on and his presence at center for four years has given Alpena a formidable inside scorer.

But during his varsity career, DeRocher has shown himself to be much more than a traditional center and has worked hard to become a more versatile player.

Even at 6-foot-6, DeRocher has the ball handling skills of a guard and has shown a steady shooting touch from outside as well. While he can get his fair share of points inside with his size and strength, DeRocher has worked on his outside game and has learned to use size and strength as tools to better position himself to score without getting blocked.

DeRocher has also proven himself to be a team player who doesn’t hesitate to make the right basketball play, despite being asked to shoulder the bulk of Alpena’s scoring load during his career.

During Alpena’s fourth quarter rally against Traverse City West on Jan. 11, the Wildcats ran several plays where DeRocher drove inside and then kicked the ball to the perimeter to Bruz Copping, who had the hot hand. Other times, DeRocher passed off to open teammates who were able to drive the lane and score as Alpena completed a comeback to win the game.

“The great thing about Chris is his focus and his goal is to try to win and do whatever he can to help the team win. He doesn’t have to go out and shoot the ball 30 times to be successful,” Pintar said. “He’s doing whatever it takes for the team to win.”

With at least 10 games left in the season, DeRocher will likely become Alpena’s first 1,500-point scorer and could reach 1,600 points or more when all is said and done.

Through it all, DeRocher has kept his focus on his teammates and winning, knowing that the points will come if he plays the way he’s capable of playing.

“I don’t really think there’s been any pressure at all with it. Obviously it’s been there (and) knowing that I was only a couple hundred points away, if I did what I have the past couple seasons I should be able to get it,” DeRocher said. “But I just go out and try to play my game and if the points come they come. I’m more worried about us winning and being able to do something (in the postseason).”

The career scoring mark ensures DeRocher a place among the greats in Alpena’s program, but DeRocher is hoping it’s a warmup for bigger things this season, namely team accomplishments.

As an eighth grade travel basketball player, DeRocher and his teammates wrote down a list of goals they wanted to achieve as high school players. DeRocher’s list included earning all-state honors, winning a district championship and winning a Big North title.

DeRocher earned an Associated Press all-state honorable mention last season and now has his sights set on the final two goals on his list.

The Wildcats off to their best start in several years with a 9-2 record through 11 games and despite a loss on Friday, they are still in hunt for the Big North title.

DeRocher is Alpena’s only four-year starter this season, but he and players like Copping, Aidan Goike, Kayden Wisniewski, Haydn Goebel and Clay and Colin Donajkowski have been in the trenches together for three seasons and are happy to see their hard working paying off as seniors.

With nine wins this season, the Wildcats have already matched their win total from the past two years and should finish with double digits victories for the first time since the 2014-15 season.

“I think (our chemistry) really shown. We’ve obviously struggled the last couple of years, but hopefully those pains have (turned into) success now. We’re just really playing well and we’re really playing together,” DeRocher said. “As an eighth grade travel team we played together and wrote down our goals. I wanted to win a district. I wanted to win a BNC championship and I wanted to be all-state. I got all-state last year, so now I want to win the BNC and I want to win districts.”