PLAYERS TO WATCH:
Soren Fraas, Cole Valley Christian
Cooper Kollmann, Cole Valley Christian
Konner Clarich, Fruitland
Zeke Van Hofwegen, Fruitland
Alec Campos, Homedale
Lukas Hall, Homedale
Sam Scott, McCall-Donnelly
Michael Ocampo, Payette
Owen Funke, Weiser
Garrett Walker, Weiser
Written by: Jonah Wockenfuss
The 4A Snake River Valley Conference is going to be a fun race this season, as four teams last season finished within one game of each other in the conference standings.
Last season, McCall-Donnelly ultimately won the conference along with the district tournament punching their ticket to state.
Can McCall-Donnelly have another successful season and win the conference for a third straight season or will someone else take over this season?
MCCALL-DONNELLY
McCall-Donnelly finished on top on the Snake River Valley Conference last season with an overall record of 16-10 and a conference record of 7-3. McCall-Donnelly will be led by head coach Chad Scott.
McCall-Donnelly will have senior Sam Scott retuning after getting All-Conference Second team honors. The Vandals unfortunately will be losing some key contributors after making it to the state tournament last season.
They will be losing former coach of the year Jason Tinney. They also will be losing players like Mike Foster, Maddox Arnold, and Mikey Wyman. Foster was selected as a First Team All-Conference player along with Arnold getting into the second team and Wyman in the Honorable Mention.
Overall, McCall-Donnelly will be having to start fresh with both a new head coach and new player personnel so we will have to wait and see what the Vandals can accomplish this upcoming season.
COLE VALLEY CHRISTIAN
Cole Valley finished 2nd last season in the Snake River Valley Conference with an overall record of 15-9 and a conference record of 7-3. Cole Valley will be led by the second-year head coach Leif Karlberg.
Cole Valley has some key players returning this season including junior guard Cooper Kollmann, who was named an All-Conference Honorable Mention last season.
Unfortunately for this season, they will be losing Isaiah Holsinger who was an All-Conference First team player last year. “We will miss his leadership, experience, and cadence as a seasoned PG,” says Karlberg.
On the offensive end, Karlberg says, “We will play fast paced in transition, unselfish and tough.” On defense, Karlberg states, “We need to be much better in transition defense than we were last year – it cost us our first-round state game.” Coach Karlberg is going to be very focused on getting this team to run in transition both offensively and defensively to better their chances throughout their season.
Overall, Cole Valley is feeling confident going into this new season. “We have a ton of returners from a team that made a state tourney run last year,” says Karlberg. Cole Valley made a good run to the state tournament last season; can they repeat that success this season?
WEISER
The Weiser Wolverines finished 3rd last season in the Snake River Valley Conference with an overall record of 17-7 and a conference record of 6-4. The Wolverines will be led by 3rd year head coach Ron Shirts.
Some key players returning this season for the Wolverines are seniors Owen Funke and Shayd Crossley along with junior Garrett Walker. While the Wolverines have some key players returning, they have some key scorers that they are losing. Those players are Josh Mizar and Kolin Cook. Mizar was on the First Team All-Conference and Cook was on the Second Team All-Conference.
When asked what to improve on offense, Shirts stated, “Shooting percentages, more patience.” And defensively, Shirts states, “Do a better job on team defense, make everything more difficult for opponents.”
Overall, coach Shirts and the Wolverines are looking to surprise a lot of people even after losing some key players this season. If Weiser can buy into the system and take good shots and play into the system, they can surprise people this season.
HOMEDALE
The Homedale Trojans finished 4th in the Snake River Valley Conference last season with an overall record of 11-11 along with a conference record of 6-4. The Trojans will be led this season by the 7th year head coach Cam Long.
A key player returning is season is senior Lukas Hall who was awarded an All-Conference Second Team last season. For Homedale unfortunately, they are losing seven seniors this season so the team will have to have the “next man up” mentality going into this season to step up for all the seniors lost this season.
When asked about what to improve on since last year, coach Long states, “Shooting was not our strength last year, so we hope to improve there.”
On the defensive end, coach Long wants to improve on rebounding, but he also likes how their team is structured defensively this season. Long states, “We have decent length this year and should be able to make teams uncomfortable.”
Overall, Homedale is getting a lot of new faces on the varsity team, but coach Long is confident they can fill in nicely. “These kids have been part of the program for a long time,” says Long. Overall, if all of the players and coaches can buy into the playstyle they are hoping to play with, Homedale can be a dangerous team and a team to look out for this season.
FRUITLAND
The Fruitland Grizzlies last season finished 5th last season in the Snake River Valley Conference with an overall record of 9-16 and a conference record of 4-6. This year the Grizzlies will be led by the third-year head coach Darren Van Hofwegen.
The Grizzlies had three players in the All-Conference honors including Titus Vidlak who made All-Conference first team, Konner Clarich who made the second team, and Zeke Van Hofwegen who got honorable mention. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, Titus Vidlak will not be playing this season so there will be some big shoes to fill in.
Offensively, Fruitland will have to approach a different style on ball movement. Coach Van Hofwegen states, “Last year’s team had some ball dominant scorers who could score in bunches, this team is going to have to be a team that moves the ball well.”
Defensively, coach Van Hofwegen states, “We have some great length.” With length, that helps disrupt opposing offenses as passing lanes decrease leading to forcing more turnovers. But the big thing coach Van Hofwegen wants to focus on is rebounding. Van Hofwegen on what to improve on said, “Rebounding. Bottom Line.”
Overall, Fruitland is looking to have a good season with everyone playing with and for each other. If everyone can buy into the system and play together, this team can make a serious run.
PAYETTE
Payette finished last in the Snake River Valley Conference with an overall record of 1-20 and a conference record of 0-10. Payette will be led by head coach Chris Shultz for this upcoming season.
Last season, Michael Ocampo for the Payette Pirates got into the All-Conference Honorable Mention list.
While the Pirates did not have the best season last year, they can definitely turn things around this season and improve upon last year.