Nouvel Catholic Central: Team Preview
Nouvel Catholic Central is a program to watch in the 2018-19 season. They are coming off of a District Championship season and have a talented roster again this year.
Head Coach: Mike Kessler (4 years)
2017-2018 Season: 13-10
“We finished around what we expected. We lost some games during the regular season that I think we should have played better in, but we also won a couple of games that people never expected us to win. We won the 2nd of back-to-back district titles. In the Regional semi-final, we pushed a then undefeated Unionville-Sebewaing team and held them to a season low in scoring.”
– Coach Kessler
TEAM OUTLOOK
Expectations: “This team will be very interesting. We return a lot of experience and really good team chemistry. We should be able to compete with a couple of other teams for our conference title. This is our 1st year in a conference. We loaded up our non-conference to get us ready for the playoffs.”
– Coach Kessler
Areas of Concern: “Size has to be our biggest concern. We lost our leading rebounder from a year ago and need some players to step up on that end.” – Coach Kessler
Best Case Scenario: “The sky is the limit for this team. If we play with confidence and build on the really good summer we had, we have the possibility of doing some things that haven’t been done at Nouvel in a long time.”
– Coach Kessler
Key Returners:
TJ Raedy
Michael Ehlman
Josh Kuligowski
Chris Lemanek
Sam Buckingham
Key Newcomers:
Devin Smith
Harry Dwan
Nouvel Catholic Central could be on the verge of a very memorable season. They are a well coached and disciplined squad led by star TJ Raedy. Raedy was an AP and Detroit Free Press Honorable Mentions All-State selection last season. Michael Ehlman has received interest from Division 3 schools, while Sam Buckingham and Devin Smith have next level potential. Nouvel Catholic Central will be in the thick of a conference title race. They are a definite threat to win another District Championship and have a chance at getting through Regionals as well.