1A teams to watch this upcoming season
Generally speaking, 1A schools do not have the abundance of students trying out for sports teams like many other schools. More times than less, these teams are lucky to have enough players at times at tryouts to fill out a…
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Continue ReadingGenerally speaking, 1A schools do not have the abundance of students trying out for sports teams like many other schools. More times than less, these teams are lucky to have enough players at times at tryouts to fill out a roster. Nonetheless, these schools still manage to put together competitive teams for their hometowns to cheer for. In the last article of this series, I will be discussing three 1A teams who by the time the season has ended will continue their journey in the postseason.
Pikes Peak Christian High School | 20-21 Record: 7-5 |
A rare sight in basketball is to see a team perform better on the road rather than playing on their home court and that is exactly what Pikes Peak Christian did last year. Being able to get wins on the road is a huge win in the eyes of any sports team because of the pressure the opposing team’s fans can bring. Pikes Peak scores at a very high clip and apparent that they will not get blown out often. Senior Ben Schneider is looking to make a bigger impact and exit his senior year with a huge bang. Coming off a 15ppg season, Ben is one of the more talented scorers in 1A with the ability to stretch the floor if need be. If this team can continue scoring efficiently and get a few more wins at home, I can see them becoming a 9-10 win team this season.
Hanover High School | 20-21 Record: 6-6 |
Located in Colorado Springs, Hanover high school is both an online academy and an on-campus school that barely has over 100 students. This, however, is not stopping them from having an impressive basketball team despite the lack of students. Hanover had four players a season ago that basically averaged their 44.5 points per game as a team. Although there is a fear they need more contributors, on both offense and defense, I wouldn’t worry if I were a Hornets fan. The team is young and the coach likes to give every player some minutes each game. There is a balance that needs to be met in terms of playing your best players and also developing your younger players when you have a chance which was satisfied. Almost everyone from last year’s team will return for the 21-22 season and typically with 1A teams having low continuity, the Hornets could be looking at a sleeper of a season. Guard Dalton Sweazy and forward Josh Yoder together combined 27 points per game for Hanover and look to become the best duo in all of 1A.
Idalia High School | 20-21 Record : 6-8 |
First and more importantly what needs to be addressed by this team is limiting the number of turnovers each game. As a team, Idalia averaged 27 turnovers per game which is a major factor as to why they fell below a .500 record a season ago. Tarek Glanz a freshmen guard from last year led the team in almost every statistical category, including his 7 turnovers a game which are mistakes a young player has time to fix. Yahir Enriquez is the other star of this team that is usually known for this perimeter defense. Although he had somewhat of an off-year, Yahir is always up to guard any opposing player and should bounce back. This team likes to play fast and get a lot of shots up, but the ball struggled to find its way into the net a little too often. Going 4-1 in their league and 6-8 altogether, it wasn’t a horrific season for the Wolves, however, four to five of these games were more than winnable if they took better care of the ball. That being said, I am extremely high on this team for this upcoming season because even minor improvements to their shooting and ability to take care of the ball would increase their wins astronomically. If they can continue to create turnovers and take better care of the ball, this team will easily find a spot in this year’s postseason.