By Ken De Laat The conference season kicks off with Kent City and Newaygo beginning their defense of last year’s titles. One opinion here is that both teams will be tough to dethrone from early indications, but it is a long season there is talent throughout both conferences. Hang on, it’s going to be a fun season. Newaygo at Central Montcalm The Lions haven’t exactly picked up where they left off last year , but they are looking pretty good at this stage of theseason as the new additions to the starting lineup and some key role players find their niche. Long continues to be the area’s best sharpshooter, Goodin is unmatched in the paint and few can defend with the tenacity of Fisk. The Hornets are 0-2 going into this one, a 2 point loss in the opener at D1 Greenville and a double digit defeat at the hands of perennial powerhouse Pewamo Westphalia. Last season CM challenged the Lions for the title but lost both games to the eventual champs and finished second. Should the Lion offense get cooking early the bus ride home from Stanton won’t seem quite as long, but should the Hornets be buzzing around late in the game the Lions will need to make a strong finish. Big Rapids at Fremont The Cards are poised for a run at the title with a couple of all conference returnees in juniors Gorczewicz and Haist while sophomore Warren is a tough stop who can work the glass. They lost to Kent City but, hey, so has everyone else. This will be a tough early season test for the Pack. The defense will need to come up big time because the Cards aren’t going to yield a lot of points. A hot hand from Zerlaut, VandenBerg, or whoever might step up would be a huge in improving the Packer chances. Grant at Reed City The Tigers are still finding themselves. They’ve hit a couple of tough losses after their nearly flawless opener but one was to KC and, like we said, who doesn’t lose to the Eagles? The Coyotes aren’t the Eagles. They are 0-3 but their best players from last year's cellar dwelling squad are back and they will likely avoid another last place finish. The Tigers have a number of offensive options and should be able to shake off that loss to KC and outscore their hosts who haven’t exactly been filling the basket thus far. But the Yotes are home in a notoriously unfriendly court to visitors so that offense wants to get rolling early, White Cloud at Hesperia First year Coach Wilk saw 2 pretty different teams between games 1 &2. From seeing the defense shredded against Grant then rising up to put the clamps on MCE might say a lot about the relative opponents but the win against the Cards should instill some confidence in this squad. If Scarlavai and Gomez can get the ball into Reeve and Derks scoring shouldn’t be a problem and despite the rout at Grant the defense looks to be pretty solid. Hesperia is a latecomer to the party and are opening their season with this game. Tinkham is their only starter back from last season and will draw a lot of attention to be sure. We’re anxious to see the contribution to be had from the team’s lone sophomore, Mia Milner. Morley Stanwood at Holton After dusting off Lee the Red Devils traveled to Tri County and held their own with a tough Viking squad before the hosts went on a late run to put it away. Now the ‘Hawks come to town with Hoisington, Berry and Garbow all able to light up the scoreboard. Robins is developing into one of the area’s best players and Boes can rack up points but it’s Fowler who really puts the Holton game in motion and her defensive skills will be badly needed to try and quell an explosive MS offense.
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