There’s a sense of pride that comes over Ethan Fields whenever he suits up for Hendersonville Christian Academy.

It’s a pride that comes from being a lifer at the school — having attended the small private school from kindergarten to this, his senior year. It’s a pride that comes from being a member of a family that has had more than its fair share of success as Crusaders as well.

From brothers Andrew and Zach, both scoring machines during their days at the school, to his own successes on both the basketball court and the HCA football field.

And the school can certainly be prideful of Ethan.

He became the Crusaders’ all-time scoring leader in basketball this season — breaking the old mark of 1,507 — and he leads the defending TAACS state champions into this weekend’s state tournament as the favorite to win it all again. He heads to the tourney having scored 1,585 points.

The Crusaders opened the tournament Thursday night with a 50-46 win against Temple Baptist at South Haven Christian School in Springfield, and advanced to play the hosts in a 7:30 semifinal Friday. A win there and HCA is in Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. title game for the third straight season.

“I came from a scoring family,” said Ethan, who has also broken the single-season scoring record and is close to breaking the points per game average. “Both my brothers scored over 1,000 points and are near the top in scoring records here.”

Once he knew he was close to the scoring record this season he had no hesitation in making sure he passed his brothers in the record books, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“They’re always very supportive of me, encouraging me and obviously pushing me,” Ethan said of his brothers. “I’ve always played against them for as long as I can remember. Playing them in the driveway, that’s where I got the physicality from. And they’ve always been encouraging and mentoring.”

Ethan is pursuing a scholarship to play basketball, but may also have an opportunity in football. He played receiver for the Crusaders.

On the basketball court, he lines up as a 6-3 forward who gets it done inside, outside and at the free throw line. And his play has certainly been a nice welcome gift for first-year Crusaders coach John Taylor.

“His pedigree is great with his brothers and I was blessed to be able to come in on his senior year,” said Taylor, who previously coached at Grace Christian Academy in Knoxville. “He’s an overachiever. He works so hard and he deserves everything he gets.”

— By Corby A. Yarbrough, Sports Editor