November 5th marked the first day of practice for the boys basketball teams this season across the state of Michigan. Newaygo county schools represent both divisions of the CSAA Conference with teams in the gold and silver divisions. Last season, Fremont and Big Rapids each took a share of the CSAA Gold Championship.
Coaches in Near North Now’s coverage area were asked to provide information for their upcoming seasons including returning players, newcomers, players to watch, strengths, weaknesses and an overall outlook on the season. Each team’s athletic page can be found in the links on Near North Now’s sports page for season schedules and rosters. Fremont Peter Zerfas, Head Coach, 19th year, 268-139 2017-18 record (overall, conference, tournament finish): 17-7, 11-3 1st place in conference, District Champions, lost in semi-finals of Regionals to South Christian Returning starters (grade): Logan Karnemaat Sr. All-conference, All-State Calvin Miller Sr. All-conference Carter Moon Jr. Other Key Returners (grade): Julian Echavaria Sr. Jaxx Miller Jr. Noah Christensen Sr. Key newcomers (grade): Tristan Campbell Jr. Chris Kennedy Jr. Braiden McDonald So. Joshua Zerfas So. Cody Moon Jr. Jacob Visser Jr. Trevor Rasch Jr. Player to watch (quick word on them): Logan Karnemaat is a returning All-State player and has already broke our school record for blocks. He was constantly double teamed and sometimes triple teamed last year and still put up 14 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks per game. Calvin Miller is 6’5 and has gained valuable muscle and strength, he is athletic and talented and one of the best returning players in the league. Team strengths: We have depth this year. Last year if we were missing even one starter we were not nearly as good of a team. This year we are much deeper in all positions. Team Challenges: Our early season schedule is as tough as I remember in my 19 years as varsity coach. We play at Ludington, at Reed City, at Big Rapids and have Montague, Sparta and Shelby all before Christmas break. Coach Quote on team: “We have height, athletic ability and depth. We return a few key players who are talented, but the bulk of our team is very inexperienced. How the younger players come along will be key to our success.” Grant Joe Schuitema, Head Coach Returning Players: Connor Vanderwilt, Senior Carter Chase, Junior Brett Long, Sophomore New to Varsity players: David Jaimes, Senior Anthony Hernandez, Junior Ricky Honeysette, Junior Ben Kelley, Junior Robert Diesel Rose, Junior Seth Schuitema - Freshman Outlook for the season: We plan to play a smart, unselfish brand of basketball to make up for our lack of varsity experience and overall court time together. Coach quote on team: “We hope to be competitive each night and to represent our school and community well.” Hesperia Doug Bolles, Head Coach Returning players: Sr., Jacob Klemundt, G, 5’8 Jr, Logan Balkema, G/F, 6’0 Sr, Ashton Arnold, G/F, 5’10 Sr, Johnny Segura, F, 5’9 Sr, Jonathan “Shorty” Castillo, G, 5’9 New players: Sophomore, AJ Perysian, G, 5’8 JR, Kaiden Robbins, F, 6’3 Season outlook: Strengths- Effort and attitudes ... Weaknesses- low numbers (only 7 players), height (only 2 players over 6 foot tall)... Morley Stanwood and Kent City should be the top two teams in the league, with Holton being the sleeper. Coach quote on team: “We’ll be leaning on returning All Conference CSAA player Jacob Klemundt for the bulk of our scoring, with Junior Logan Balkema also a returning starter to elevate his game this season. We’ll be low in numbers and in size, but not heart and effort! We’re not going to put up a lot of points, so we better play good defense!” Holton Luke Houseman, Head Coach Returning players: Drew Trygstad, Nate Slowik, Aaron Herron, Aidan Poling, Michael Ward, Derek Pouch From last year JV’s: Cody and Chip Wright and Caleb Kitchka Transfer: Taylor Johnson Outlook on the season: I took this position at the very end of July. I didn’t get to work with the kids at all in the summer. We had a great football season, making it to the semifinals in Division 8. A number of my players played on that team. We will not start official practice until Monday November 26th. We are way behind right now. Our quote we live by is “Win the Day”. We want to practice and play at a consistently high level and be better today than we were yesterday. We are going to progress a lot through the season. Our goal is to be playing our best basketball come tournament time. League Predictions: From what I am hearing Morley Stanwood should be at the top of the league this year. Newaygo Joseph Barrette, Head Coach The 2018-19 Newaygo Lions hope to improve on last year’s campaign of 14 wins by meeting team goals they fell short of a year ago. “Team speed and team chemistry have me excited about the possibilities for this team,” explained coach Barrette. Returning starters: Connor Swinehart, Kade Bhuyan, Ryan Brummel, Noah Cantu, Gabe Limberg Newcomers:: Seniors Adrian Briones and Jasper Sanderson; Juniors Carson Bush, Noah Painter, Carlos Magana, and Francisco Rios; Sophomores Jarrod Wismar and Wyatt Mortensen Coach’s quote on team: “We will play with energy and enthusiasm. Our goal is to represent our school with class and dignity every time we take the floor,” asserts Coach Barrette. The Lions will open up their season on December 4th at Lakeview with a total of 5 games before a break over the holiday season. White Cloud Bob Jones, Head Coach Coach quote on team: “We have two returning starters from last year, but return six that contributed a lot of minutes. Height will once again be our struggle against taller teams, but our team speed, hustle and ability to hit shots should help even the score. Looking to be a respectable five hundred team or better this year.” Seniors #0 Adrian Rodriguez #10 Trent Jones #24 Collin Crotser #34 Chance Montemayor Juniors #20 Steven Holt #22 Jake Foster #32 Tom Feldpausch #44 Alex Doke Sophomores #13 Dexter Cox #30 Sam Venema
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories |