Last season saw the Owen-Withee boys’ basketball team make a deep run into the playoffs, eventually ending their season in the sectional finals against Solon Springs.
Five of the eight top players return from last year’s team. The Hawks will be led by seniors Colin Fritz, Mason Gay, and Dominic Sherwood.
According to Head Coach Russ Weiler, each of those senior leaders brings something different to the Blackhawks, “Dominic gives us a combo guard that can handle the ball as well as shoot and will mix it up in the post. Mason adds quickness on defense along with his ball handling and shooting. Colin brings that toughness to the court and is always aggressive, being willing to play inside and outside.”
Joining them will be fellow senior Brett Baehr, whom Weiler says “will bring energy and effort on both ends.”
Other returning players with varsity experience include juniors Colton Paczkowski, Winston Poehler, Sam Wells, and Jack Wendler.
Weiler says that with each player’s unique skill set, Owen-Withee should be a well-rounded team, “[Paczkowski] will add ball handling along with solid on-ball defense. [Poehler] adds versatility to the line-up playing inside and outside with his three-point shot. [Wells] will make an impact with his drive and ability to spread the court with his shot. [Wendler] will give us some strong inside play on both ends along with some rebounding.”
Weiler will also look to sophomore guards Preston Fritz and Talon Mueller to provide the team with some depth off the bench.
Weiler made a point to emphasize “how important role players are to any team in any sport that fans may not give enough credit to.”
But while each player provides something unique and different to the team, Weiler sees the team’s greatest strengths as the skills that each player shares with his teammates.
“Togetherness, effort, and energy,” Weiler says about his team’s biggest strengths this season, “They play for each other without any egos, knowing that it is about the team. [They] have expectations for each other and themselves and…hold each other accountable.”
Teams at small schools are going to rely on their three-sport athletes, so the Hawks got a later start than usual due to the football team’s state championship run. As a result, they are going to have to learn on the go and get their basketball legs under them as they work towards their goals this season.
Weiler describes those goals as “start[ing] with a conference championship, along with each level of the playoffs, regionals, sectionals, and state. In order to do that, any team in any sport needs to stay relatively injury-free and stay consistent with their play.”
That first goal will be no small feat for the Hawks.
“We have some young teams [in the conference] from last year that will be much improved as the conference will be even tougher this year,” Weiler explains.
And then, of course, there is defending Division 5 State Champion Columbus Catholic. The Hawks host the defending champs next Thursday, December 19.