PLAYERS TO WATCH

Emmett Palan, Camas County
Tristen Smith, Camas County
Troy Smith, Camas County
Connor Perkins, Dietrich
Brody Torgerson, Dietrich
Martin Gonzales, Hagerman
Ky Kendall, Hagerman
Korbyn Benzeval, Richfield
Devin Scott, Richfield

Written by: Will Hoenike

The Richfield Tigers won 23 games last season and reached the 1A Division 2 state championship game. Head coach Chris Taber had 16 players in his program and only five of them were seniors, so the program has some depth.

That’s important because four of those five – Clay Kent (MVP), Luke Dalton (Offensive Player of the Year), Hudson Lucero (All-Conference), and Jamen Fuchs (All-Conference) – were among the best players in the 1A Division 2 Sawtooth Conference’s top players.

Taber and the Tigers will likely lean on senior big man Korbyn Benzeval but freshman Devin Scott has a chance to make an instant impact as players compete for new roles and increased playing time this season.

The Camas County Mushers are coming off the school’s first appearance in a football state championship game since 1981, but the same group of athletes won the basketball regular-season championship last season. The Mushers were upended in the ensuing district tournament so there’s business to finish.

“We have a group of kids who have played together since elementary school, are really excellent shooters, ball handlers and have high IQ,” said long-time head coach Jamon Frostenson. “We are a very physical and defensively focused team. We are going to be very deep this season which will help us to defensively grind on teams.”

The depth begins with twin brothers Troy and Tristen Smith, but may be keyed by two other members of the team’s senior class.

“Our X-factors will be Emmett Palan and Trevor Tews,” Frostenson said. “If those two very talented players have good nights, we will be a very difficult team to beat.”

As is common across the 1A classification, you see many of the same names pop up across several sports in a given year. And, much like rival Camas County, the Dietrich Blue Devils will lean on a pair of players who helped lead the school’s football team to the 1A Division 2 state playoffs last month – juniors Connor Perkins and Brody Torgerson.

The Blue Devils will need to replace the production and experience of departed All-Conference players Cody Power and Hayden Astle, but the program had over a dozen players in the program last season and a history of success, which includes a state championship in 2016.

One of the members of that championship team was Slade Dill. Dill has returned to Dietrich to lead the boys program after playing college basketball at Eastern Oregon University last year, replacing his father, Wayne Dill. The elder Dill, the longtime and highly-respected head coach at Dietrich, passed away suddenly earlier this year.

The fourth team in the Sawtooth Conference is Hagerman, but they’re not an afterthought in 2023-24. The Pirates did not win a conference game last season but returns a talented backcourt, led by junior Ky Kendall. He’ll be joined by fellow junior Martin Gonzalez and that duo will be supported by sophomores Alex Johnson and Wyatt Mavencamp.

“We had a great turnout for tryouts and I love the energy in the gym,” said first-year head coach Katie Knight. “The players are excited and willing to work hard to improve.”

Knight noted the team had to wait a week to start basketball practice due to the success of the football program, which reached the 1A Division 2 state semifinals. Could the success in one arena lead to success in another?

“We want everyone attacking the basket and feeling confident shooting the ball,” Knight said. “We need more threats to spread the defense and I believe we have the skills to do it. We are building their confidence back up and they are enjoying playing basketball again.”

On paper, there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut 1, 2, 3, or 4 in the Sawtooth Conference this season. The competition for the opportunity to play in the 1A Division 2 state tournament ought to be intense.