With the high school boys basketball team ending their last season going strong, there are high expectations for this season. Led by head coach Cade Witte and assistant coach Troy Johnson, the eager players hit the court on Nov. 13.
“We have an opportunity to have a great year and make a run in the postseason. We have five returning varsity players in Cooper [Schroer], Pax [Vogel], Dominic [Cauthers], Tag [Groh] and Colin [Monihen], who all started at some point last year,” Witte said. “Also returning this year is Aidan, who couldn't play last year due to an injury, but played significant minutes as a freshman and sophomore.”
There are 17 players on the team, but only three freshmen joined the squad.
“I feel like the freshman will bring a competitive approach to the team this year,” freshman Guthrie Danford said.
“Converting from middle school basketball to high school is gonna be a challenge, but I’ll be ready for it. I think we’ll bring a lot of effort to the team,” freshman Wyatt Griffin said
Last year Rhett Reyer was the only senior on the team, and served as one of the team leaders.
“I think the biggest issue for us is probably that Rhett was our leader and he was good at it, and every team needs a good leader. He was also a really good player for us and he always brought good effort,” Groh said.
A returning player from two years ago is senior Aidan Eidman, who had to sit out last year due to a serious knee injury during football season.
“I was very concerned about how quickly I would pick back up where I left off sophomore year. The first couple of practices were tough but started to get better as it went on,” Eidman said. I feel like we will work very well together with us all playing together since middle school. I think our strength this year will be the experience and dedication we have put to basketball over the years and our biggest weakness is getting back our chemistry.”
The players know that they need to work as a team to have a successful season and reach their goal of reaching state competition.
“I think we should continue to work on everything like we usually do. I think that if we work together as a team early then that will be beneficial in games because we will all be connected,” Cauthers said.
