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Middleton High School
School Info
Conference: 4A Southern Idaho Conference
Classification: 4A
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Head Coach: Dale Karst
Years as Head Coach: 3rd Season
Previous Experience: Head coach at Middleton 1997-2004
Record Last Year: 16-10
Assistant Coaches:
Derrin Dildine
Returning Athletes:
David Kofoed #32, Kobe Crawford #3, Reece Robinett #44
“Key Players” lost from last year:
Joe Valencia, Point Guard
Hayden Bennett, Guard
JD Lyle, Post
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Team Preview:
By Chris Langrill
The Middleton High boys basketball program earned the 4A District Three championship last season.
By doing so, the Vikings earned their third trip to the state tournament in school history. A breakthrough season like that can impact teams any number of ways the next season. Some teams build upon the previous success. Others rest on their laurels.
For Middleton, it's almost a moot point, considering all the players the Vikings lost.
Gone are JD Lyle, Hayden Bennett and Joe Valencia, three players who were central to Middleton's success last season.
"We lost a tremendous amount of leadership and point production," coach Dale Karst said.
So, don't expect Karst to spend a lot of time asking his players to revisit last season. This is a new Vikings team.
Yes, there are some players who could look back, if they chose to do so: Kobe Crawford, David Kofoed and Reece Robinett all played varsity ball last season. But make no mistake – this is a new season, with new players.
"We are excited to see who steps up," said Karst, who is in his third year of his second stint coaching Middleton (he also coached the Vikings from 1997 to 2004).
And while Middleton will be a different team, that doesn't necessarily translate to a bad thing.
"We will have a better post production this year," Karst said. "I feel we have the opportunity to play both through our posts and our guards, depending on the matchups. We want to play an uptempo style of offense and take advantage of possible mismatches."
Karst thinks he'll have a pretty good idea of his offense's direction after the early stage of the season.
"Our tough preseason schedule will give us a good look on how we will attack our conference schedule," he said.
And speaking of going on the attack, that's exactly what fans might see the Vikings do early and often this season.
"We should be able to pressure the basketball and create some easy baskets," Karst said. "With our diversity, we should be able to run some different types of defenses. On the perimeter, David
Kofoed, Chase Downs and Kobe Crawford should be able to cause havoc."
So, maybe there really is no reason for Middleton to look back to last season. Perhaps this Vikings team can make some noise of its own.
"We are a young team, but our team chemistry is solid and we will play hard for each other," Karst said. "The players practice very hard and constantly work to get better."
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