Boys basketball is off to an optimistic start this year. Coming off of last year’s disappointing record of 2-21, it seems like a change of the lineup has been beneficial to the team and their record. The team has amassed more wins already within the first six games than they had all of last year. 

“We have high expectations for a successful season that rests largely on the shoulders of our senior players: AJ Strawderman, Allen Holmon, Jared Smith, Adam McCaffery, Ty Kang, Andrew Lauan, and Aidan Bremer,” head coach Scott Kallens said.

While the returning players are key to a successful season, there are also underclassmen who bring a new set of skills to the team.

 “We also have strong supporting underclassmen in Jordan Gumpel, Kyle Chedid, Camryn Loniewski, James Mazuera and William Dixon,” Kallens said.

Captain AJ Strawderman has a lot of faith in this year’s new and returning players to perform better than the year before and in future games because of their bond as teammates and their skill as a whole. 

“I think this will be an up year for our program,” Strawderman said, “I think we’ve got a group of talented players who have been playing with each other a long enough time to make an impact in the conference.”

With the goal of improvement always on their minds, the boys and their coach reflect on last season, hoping to learn from their past mistakes to bring this season to a winning record.

“The experience we gained last year as a young team and the hard work and time everyone has put in during the off-season has helped us to start the season strong and gives us high hopes for a strong run in the county and state tournaments,” Kallens said.

For seniors, the most experienced players on the team, this season has a new meaning and brings a new role to all of them to play as strongly as they can, and have their best season yet. 

“It feels different,” Strawderman says, “Before this year, things have never been so much in our control; now that we’re seniors it’s up to us to control our destiny. I’m ready to go out and battle with my guys one last season.”