Blue Jay Boys Open Season Friday
The new season will get underway for the Blue Jay boys’ basketball team as they travel to Beulah on Friday, Dec. 13 with A, B and C squads set to play starting at 4:00 p.m. They will be at home on Tuesday, Dec. 17 when they host Killdeer starting at 4:15 p.m.
Numbers are very similar to last year, starting with 26 players on the roster compared to 24 last year at this time. Again, this year, they will miss the six seniors, including four in the starting rotation that graduated last year. Even so, head coach Kory Anderson says that they still bring back seven players all with varsity experience last year.
That includes seniors Drake Schlosser, Kade Snyder and Caleb Mortensen, along with junior Bennett Larson, and sophomores Ben Hynek, Austin Kanenwisher and Jevon Johnson. He points to those seven players as ready for the competition at the Class A varsity level with a number of the younger players working hard during practice. The first week of practices saw players competing hard and push each other as the team finds their way into the new season.
The rest of this year’s varsity squads include seniors Max Jackson, John Chavez and Jacob Roses; juniors Ashton Peterson and Brett Leith; sophomores Landon Hunting, Carter Goettle, Jacob Altamarino, Kolton Longmuir, Logan Longmuir and Conner Smith; and freshmen Tyke Barstad, Lance Allen, Axel Reyes, Joshua Wolter, Landon Goettle, Henry Sorenson, Jason White and Justin Osle.
Practices continue to be split this year for the teams to allow more use of the full court and to give the coaches more time to work with the younger players.
Anderson says that some of those younger players are working hard on their defensive effort to push the older players and making them better. Meanwhile, he points to his returning varsity players, saying they are working hard and put in the hard work before the season begins. Drake Schlosser is a great leader and Bennett Larson is right in there as well.
He says that effort is one of the team’s greatest strengths this year. He says that Schlosser is likely the best defender in the region. Adding that to the size of Ben Hynek and Bennett Larson, they are working really hard. That effort, he says, will mean the team will be competing very hard every night. He also notes that Kade Snyder is one of those players that does a lot for the team. Anderson says that while he may not have as many numbers in the stat sheets, he still brings everything the team needs to be successful and is just as important as the scorers on the court.
One of the challenges to start the season is a lack of depth in experience. The change last year to Class A as the state created the three class system means that they are playing tougher teams each night.
Anderson expects the entire region to be a fight this year, with six teams including Stanley that could win the region. He says the Blue Jays will have to win a lot of close games this year. Night after night, he expects the team to be right there in the fight.
As they look at their schedule this year, the region remains the same although Anderson says that New Town will change regions next year. The Blue Jays still have one of the toughest schedules in the state, including facing teams like Killdeer and Shiloh Christian that are ranked in the early preseason polls. The Blue Jays will play Powers Lake this year in a rivalry out of conference game in February in Powers Lake. Anderson says that he would like to see more of those rivalry games on the schedule. That includes looking for a way to bring back the Lions Tournament, which Anderson says that he would like to see include four Class A and four Class B teams. That will be hard to figure out, but he hopes it will be possible in the future.
Anderson is joined on the sidelines again this year with assistant coaches Gary Schell, Bryce Hoerer and Jaxton Lorenz.