With the basketball season quickly approaching, Head Coach, Joe Fenlon, is preparing his team for a strong season. After finishing 17-12 last season and reaching the regional semifinals, the team is poised for another strong showing, granted they are able to overcome the obstacles in front of them.

With every season comes a new group of individuals eager to earn their playing time, which may prove to be their biggest obstacle. “It’s a different team each year, some of the pieces might be the same, but they’re not the same kids they were when we ended the season in February,” said Fenlon. Fenlon believes the returning players have been able to develop during the offseason, and the team is very talented, but with a short time to prepare for the season, working on teamwork will be their main focus. “Chemistry can be our biggest strength or your biggest weakness,” said Fenlon.

After last season, the team saw many seniors graduate and move on to do big things, including starters, Christian Schach walking on to the team at UNF and Trey Sibert at Husson University. The holes left behind by these players are not small ones to fill but Junior, Isaac Ward believes the team will be able to do so. “I think we’ve got some guys to fill the holes, some people who didn’t get as much playing time last year because of those seniors, will get time this year to show that they can play,” said Ward.

Fenlon was able to spend a lot of time over the summer developing players and get an idea of the team dynamic before the actual season begins. With 35 years of coaching experience under his belt, he’s learned to look for things during these early stages that can lead towards a strong season. “What I really try to see is where the leadership comes from,” said Fenlon.

The team is ready for a tough and long season, which begins November 30 with a game against Sunlake High School, but as Fenlon put it,“Wins and losses don’t matter as much, when you’re in highschool, only one teams gonna win the last game of the year.”