Post by Admin on Nov 20, 2014 7:00:36 GMT -6
Linked are quick snippets of some teams in SW MN particularly Red Rock, Big South, & TMB mentioned here in article by the great Les Knutson at the Worthington Daily Globe.
www.dglobe.com/content/prep-boys-basketball-new-season-comes-quickly
WORTHINGTON — With snow on the ground and the cold winds of winter already creating below zero wind-chill conditions, high school basketball teams have been warming up area gymnasiums practicing for the quickly-approaching new season.
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Boys’ practice officially started Nov. 10 and area girls took to the basketball court this past Monday (Nov. 17). Several boys’ teams swing into action with games this weekend, while nearly all squads will have played a game prior to Thanksgiving.
The first scheduled girls’ games are the day following Thanksgiving (Nov. 28), with nearly all area girls’ teams playing in the first week of December.
A preview look at the area’s girls will appear next week, but for the second year in a row — the boys’ season is ahead of the girls.
Here, then, is a preview peek at the boys’ basketball teams in the area, including four members of the Big South Conference, the 11 teams playing in the Red Rock Conference, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton of the Camden Conference South and four of the teams of northwestern Iowa.
The Worthington Trojans will be previewed in Monday’s Daily Globe.
JCC won 17 games last season Perennial power Marshall won the Southwest Conference last season, going a perfect 12-0 in the league and capping a 24-5 overall season with a second consecutive appearance in the Class AAA state-tournament. The Tigers, coached by 1997 Fulda High School graduate Travis Carroll, will again be a team to be reckoned with.
This year, the seven members of the Southwest are part of the larger 13-team conference, known as the Big South. Not much really changes, however, as the seven former Southwest Conference teams will compete together as rivals in the Big South West. The former South Central Conference teams — Waseca, St. Peter, New Ulm, Blue Earth Area, St. James and Fairmont — will compete for Big South East honors.
Four teams in the West — Redwood Valley, Worthington, Pipestone Area and Windom Area — have new head coaches this season.
Jackson County Central’s Trent Sukalski is the longest tenured head coach in the West, as he returns to guide the Huskies for the ninth season, coming off a fine 17-10 overall record in 2013-14 — the third time in the past four seasons that JCC won at least 16 games. The Huskies were 8-4 in the Southwest Conference last year, good for third place.
A trio of seniors — Zach Schwarting, Joseph Brinkman and Brody Anderson — return to lead JCC, along with a pair of tall juniors, 6-9 Bodey Behrends and 6-5 Colton Timmer, and a talented group of upcoming sophomores (five listed on the varsity roster) who have experienced a lot of previous basketball success.
Pipestone Area’s new coach is Joe Kahl and the Arrows have seven seniors listed on the varsity roster, including Dominic Freese, Boyer Bouman and 6-7 Collin Moeller who were key players for the 12-14 (5-7 Southwest) Arrows last winter. Coming off a stellar football season, PA’s overall depth, experience and athleticism will certainly be positive factors for the program this season.
Bouman will sit out early, having injured his shoulder during the extended football campaign.
Chad Elston, a 1995 Windom Area High School graduate, returns to his alma mater as the head coach of the Eagles, who were highly competitive a year ago (9-16, 2-10) and have two depth-filled classes — juniors and freshmen — preparing to bring more future wins to a program with a rich basketball tradition.
Seniors Kyle Antes and Tyler Morgan (both all-conference football players) return as experienced Eagles, as do junior veterans Sam Huska and Jeff Pfeffer, along with six other athletic classmates.
At Luverne, the Cardinals — under second-year head coach John Sichmeller — have five returning seniors, along with 6-3 junior guard Nicholas Overgaard and 6-6 junior center Quinton Siebenahler, to help LHS improve on its 4-22 overall record (0-12 conference) from last season. Six-one senior forward Trenton Rops gives the Cardinals a lot of versatility with his overall athleticism.
T-M-B Panthers are young
At Tracy, Rick Haberman begins his eighth season guiding the fortunes of the Panthers, who finished second last winter in the Camden Conference South (9-5), while going 15-13 overall.
Junior forward Josh Kirk (6-1) and sophomore forward Spencer Smith (6-4) were T-M-B’s leading scorers last season and 6-2 junior Riley Kirk returns as the Panthers’ point guard. Six other lettermen are also back, giving T-M-B an abundance of varsity experience as Haberman seeks to improve his team’s defense and rebounding.
The Panthers finished second in the South behind the defending Section 3A champion Canby Lancers (25-5, 11-3) last year and will also tangle with perennial power Dawson-Boyd (25-3) which won the Camden Conference North last year with a perfect 15-0 league record.
Three RRC teams won 20 games last season A trio of Red Rock Conference teams won at least 20 games last season, including defending league champion Mountain Lake Area (24-3, 16-0), Southwest Christian (25-3, 15-1) and Ellsworth (21-7, 13-4).
Graduation took its toll on all three, but each has a strong recent tradition and will be contenders again this season, along with Hills Beaver Creek (12-11, 10-6) and Murray County Central (10-17, 8-8).
The Wolverines graduated 10 quality players off of last year’s championship team, but MLA does return eight seniors with limited varsity experience — Ben Grev, Caleb Bargen, Eric Wenner, Logan Johnson, Aaron Walzak, Levi Jahnke, Jared Saunders and Derek Harder — providing veteran coach Shawn Naas with plenty of depth and competitive practice situations.
Southwest Christian was also hard-hit by graduation, but the Eagles bring back returning starters Luke Nibbelink and Jay DeBoer, both seniors. As always, you can count on Southwest to be fundamentally-sound and extremely aggressive on defense, which has been a trademark of coach Jamie Pap’s teams.
At Ellsworth, Mac McDowell — the assistant coach for the past several seasons — is the new head coach and welcomes a strong cast of returning players, including 6-0 senior guard Cole Meester and 6-5 senior post Justin Kruse.
H-BC brings back senior veterans Braden Ellingson (6-1) and Carey Taubert (6-4), along with skilled sophomore Zach Scholten (6-5) who earned the conference gold medal in the high jump last spring.
Likewise, MCC has a trio of top returning players in seniors Grant Everson (5-9) and Jaden Boerboom (6-0), along with 6-3 junior Grant Rohrer. With four other experienced seniors and an abundance of talented juniors, the Rebels will have one of the deepest squads in the conference.
Heron Lake-Okabena (12-11, 10-6) will be led by versatile seniors Trey Cranston and Isaac Fest, both 6-2, while Westbrook-Walnut Grove (9-15, 8-8) will have two of the tallest players in the Red Rock in senior Walker Christians and junior Randy Knutson, who are each listed at 6-5.
Adrian (7-18, 6-10) brings back two of the league’s most experienced all-around players in 6-4 seniors Taylor Recker and Brady Lonneman, while 5-9 senior Collin Kemper has also played a lot of varsity basketball and is a fine 3-point shooter. Fulda (3-23, 3-13) returns 6-2 senior forward Bennett Appel and 6-2 junior guard Brian Fenske as its two most experienced players, along with 5-7 sophomore guard Justin Dierks and 5-10 senior guard Brett Cuperus.
Red Rock Central (1-23, 1-15) returns 5-10 senior guard Tom Blomgren as its top player, while a couple of tall sophomores — 6-4 Luke Engen and 6-5 Trevor Pederson — give the Falcons lots of potential down low. Edgerton (2-21, 1-15) returns 6-1 sharp-shooting guard Luke Drooger, along with senior veterans Wyatt Butson (5-10) and Riley Van Klei (6-2). The Dutchmen are blessed with a bunch of talented sophomores to provide depth and athleticism.
www.dglobe.com/content/prep-boys-basketball-new-season-comes-quickly
WORTHINGTON — With snow on the ground and the cold winds of winter already creating below zero wind-chill conditions, high school basketball teams have been warming up area gymnasiums practicing for the quickly-approaching new season.
VIEW ALL OFFERS | ADD YOUR BUSINESS
Boys’ practice officially started Nov. 10 and area girls took to the basketball court this past Monday (Nov. 17). Several boys’ teams swing into action with games this weekend, while nearly all squads will have played a game prior to Thanksgiving.
The first scheduled girls’ games are the day following Thanksgiving (Nov. 28), with nearly all area girls’ teams playing in the first week of December.
A preview look at the area’s girls will appear next week, but for the second year in a row — the boys’ season is ahead of the girls.
Here, then, is a preview peek at the boys’ basketball teams in the area, including four members of the Big South Conference, the 11 teams playing in the Red Rock Conference, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton of the Camden Conference South and four of the teams of northwestern Iowa.
The Worthington Trojans will be previewed in Monday’s Daily Globe.
JCC won 17 games last season Perennial power Marshall won the Southwest Conference last season, going a perfect 12-0 in the league and capping a 24-5 overall season with a second consecutive appearance in the Class AAA state-tournament. The Tigers, coached by 1997 Fulda High School graduate Travis Carroll, will again be a team to be reckoned with.
This year, the seven members of the Southwest are part of the larger 13-team conference, known as the Big South. Not much really changes, however, as the seven former Southwest Conference teams will compete together as rivals in the Big South West. The former South Central Conference teams — Waseca, St. Peter, New Ulm, Blue Earth Area, St. James and Fairmont — will compete for Big South East honors.
Four teams in the West — Redwood Valley, Worthington, Pipestone Area and Windom Area — have new head coaches this season.
Jackson County Central’s Trent Sukalski is the longest tenured head coach in the West, as he returns to guide the Huskies for the ninth season, coming off a fine 17-10 overall record in 2013-14 — the third time in the past four seasons that JCC won at least 16 games. The Huskies were 8-4 in the Southwest Conference last year, good for third place.
A trio of seniors — Zach Schwarting, Joseph Brinkman and Brody Anderson — return to lead JCC, along with a pair of tall juniors, 6-9 Bodey Behrends and 6-5 Colton Timmer, and a talented group of upcoming sophomores (five listed on the varsity roster) who have experienced a lot of previous basketball success.
Pipestone Area’s new coach is Joe Kahl and the Arrows have seven seniors listed on the varsity roster, including Dominic Freese, Boyer Bouman and 6-7 Collin Moeller who were key players for the 12-14 (5-7 Southwest) Arrows last winter. Coming off a stellar football season, PA’s overall depth, experience and athleticism will certainly be positive factors for the program this season.
Bouman will sit out early, having injured his shoulder during the extended football campaign.
Chad Elston, a 1995 Windom Area High School graduate, returns to his alma mater as the head coach of the Eagles, who were highly competitive a year ago (9-16, 2-10) and have two depth-filled classes — juniors and freshmen — preparing to bring more future wins to a program with a rich basketball tradition.
Seniors Kyle Antes and Tyler Morgan (both all-conference football players) return as experienced Eagles, as do junior veterans Sam Huska and Jeff Pfeffer, along with six other athletic classmates.
At Luverne, the Cardinals — under second-year head coach John Sichmeller — have five returning seniors, along with 6-3 junior guard Nicholas Overgaard and 6-6 junior center Quinton Siebenahler, to help LHS improve on its 4-22 overall record (0-12 conference) from last season. Six-one senior forward Trenton Rops gives the Cardinals a lot of versatility with his overall athleticism.
T-M-B Panthers are young
At Tracy, Rick Haberman begins his eighth season guiding the fortunes of the Panthers, who finished second last winter in the Camden Conference South (9-5), while going 15-13 overall.
Junior forward Josh Kirk (6-1) and sophomore forward Spencer Smith (6-4) were T-M-B’s leading scorers last season and 6-2 junior Riley Kirk returns as the Panthers’ point guard. Six other lettermen are also back, giving T-M-B an abundance of varsity experience as Haberman seeks to improve his team’s defense and rebounding.
The Panthers finished second in the South behind the defending Section 3A champion Canby Lancers (25-5, 11-3) last year and will also tangle with perennial power Dawson-Boyd (25-3) which won the Camden Conference North last year with a perfect 15-0 league record.
Three RRC teams won 20 games last season A trio of Red Rock Conference teams won at least 20 games last season, including defending league champion Mountain Lake Area (24-3, 16-0), Southwest Christian (25-3, 15-1) and Ellsworth (21-7, 13-4).
Graduation took its toll on all three, but each has a strong recent tradition and will be contenders again this season, along with Hills Beaver Creek (12-11, 10-6) and Murray County Central (10-17, 8-8).
The Wolverines graduated 10 quality players off of last year’s championship team, but MLA does return eight seniors with limited varsity experience — Ben Grev, Caleb Bargen, Eric Wenner, Logan Johnson, Aaron Walzak, Levi Jahnke, Jared Saunders and Derek Harder — providing veteran coach Shawn Naas with plenty of depth and competitive practice situations.
Southwest Christian was also hard-hit by graduation, but the Eagles bring back returning starters Luke Nibbelink and Jay DeBoer, both seniors. As always, you can count on Southwest to be fundamentally-sound and extremely aggressive on defense, which has been a trademark of coach Jamie Pap’s teams.
At Ellsworth, Mac McDowell — the assistant coach for the past several seasons — is the new head coach and welcomes a strong cast of returning players, including 6-0 senior guard Cole Meester and 6-5 senior post Justin Kruse.
H-BC brings back senior veterans Braden Ellingson (6-1) and Carey Taubert (6-4), along with skilled sophomore Zach Scholten (6-5) who earned the conference gold medal in the high jump last spring.
Likewise, MCC has a trio of top returning players in seniors Grant Everson (5-9) and Jaden Boerboom (6-0), along with 6-3 junior Grant Rohrer. With four other experienced seniors and an abundance of talented juniors, the Rebels will have one of the deepest squads in the conference.
Heron Lake-Okabena (12-11, 10-6) will be led by versatile seniors Trey Cranston and Isaac Fest, both 6-2, while Westbrook-Walnut Grove (9-15, 8-8) will have two of the tallest players in the Red Rock in senior Walker Christians and junior Randy Knutson, who are each listed at 6-5.
Adrian (7-18, 6-10) brings back two of the league’s most experienced all-around players in 6-4 seniors Taylor Recker and Brady Lonneman, while 5-9 senior Collin Kemper has also played a lot of varsity basketball and is a fine 3-point shooter. Fulda (3-23, 3-13) returns 6-2 senior forward Bennett Appel and 6-2 junior guard Brian Fenske as its two most experienced players, along with 5-7 sophomore guard Justin Dierks and 5-10 senior guard Brett Cuperus.
Red Rock Central (1-23, 1-15) returns 5-10 senior guard Tom Blomgren as its top player, while a couple of tall sophomores — 6-4 Luke Engen and 6-5 Trevor Pederson — give the Falcons lots of potential down low. Edgerton (2-21, 1-15) returns 6-1 sharp-shooting guard Luke Drooger, along with senior veterans Wyatt Butson (5-10) and Riley Van Klei (6-2). The Dutchmen are blessed with a bunch of talented sophomores to provide depth and athleticism.