Kansas Hardwood, Volume 6
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Central Prairie Continued from Page 47 team all-state honors last season, and Calleros was an honorable mention. Triston Long and Alexis Valenzuela were also multi-year contributors for the Tigers. Those four seniors led the Tigers to a 95-6 record in their prep careers. Six-foot-four senior Chase Fisher returns as an all-state honorable mention after averaging 13 points and four rebounds a game last year. Senior Quincy Smith will take on a bigger role at point after averaging four points, three boards, and three assists a night last season. Kinnamon has a handful of varsity letter winners back. Sophomore Tanner Hanner brings some height at 6-7. He played in 21 games last year and averaged four points a night. Junior Eddy Calleros scored four points a night, and sixfoot-three senior Braden Witt will have an increased role this winter. Central Plains boys Right along with St. John, the Oilers have been the league’s other consistent state power over the past four seasons. When the teams missed each other in sub-state in 2015, they went on to play a competitive 49-45 battle for the Class 2A championship. Central Plains finished third in 2016. Last season, Brett Rolf ’s squad went 8-1 in league to finish behind St. John. The Oilers went 17-6 overall but should be one of Class 2A’s premiere teams once again with four starters back. “We return a very talented nucleus of players,” Rolfs said. “Brett Liebl and Alex Barton will be a great one-two punch in the paint for us. Devin Ryan and Alex Hickel will provide great stability to our backcourt.” At 6-2, the junior Liebl was a force inside last year with 15.6 points and 6.8 rebounds a night. Barton, 6-3, averaged 11.8 points and 6.5 boards a game. Rolfs also has a pair of top-tier guards in Hickel and Ryan. Hickel averaged 14.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists a night last season. Ryan is part of clan of brothers and sisters that have had tremendous success on the court. He averaged 9.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists a year ago. Last year, Central Plains picked up Myles Menges after the football season. At 6’3”, Menges will likely see more time this year after scoring four points a night last season. Ness City boys
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The Eagles are the other CPL team to climb to No. 1 in the Class 2A ranks over the last three seasons. Ness City took a 21-2 record to state in March before making an early exit. Big changes are coming for the Eagles. Brandt Rogers takes over the program after coaching two years at South Central. Rogers will be without all-staters Chandler Stiawalt and Devin Brown, and fellow graduate Peyton Fellhoelter. But Rogers will still have three starters back in seniors John Pfannenstiel and Christian Scheopner, and junior Andres Rios. With a handful of other juniors and seniors with experience returning, Rogers expects consistency on both sides of the ball and wants to hold opponents under 50 points each night out. He’s also pushing his kids to excel in the classroom. Otis-Bison boys The Cougars advanced to the Class 1A, Div. II state tournament last year, losing a first-round 49-46 overtime heartbreaker to the eventual runners-up from Hartford. Otis-Bison finished the season at 16-8. Curtis Litte has most of that squad back this winter. The biggest absence will be Kade Urban, who averaged 11 points and five rebounds last year. Six-foot-four junior Maitland Wiltse returns as one of the top players in Div. II after averaging 15.6 points and 9.6 rebounds a game last season. Senior Clade Anderson put up eight points and seven rebounds a night last year, and junior Anton Foust, who took over quarterbacking duties for the Cougar football team, returns after scoring six points and grabbing four boards a nigh last winter. Senior Blake Bahr and junior Luke Higgason also played in virtually every varsity contest last season. Macksville boys The Mustang boys went 15-7 and finished fourth in the league behind the three powerhouses last winter. “With all of our losses to ranked teams last season, we hope those tough teams have prepared us for this season and that experience will benefit us,” said Jeff Kuckelman, back for a 15th season in the sideline at MHS. “We again face several strong opponents this season but hope that we can beat some of those quality opponents this year. Our kids had a good summer and got better as we attended team camp at Oklahoma State and beat several quality teams there. With three returning starters and
help from some players that got better on JV, we are hoping for a strong season.” The ‘Stangs will be without two of its topthree scorers from a year ago. Diego Delgadillo averaged just under 15 points and Brigdon Russell averaged 11 points a night. Senior Jacob Rein returns as one of the top athletes in the league after averaging 14.5 points and four rebounds a game last season. Junior Karson Waters averaged 9.5 ppg last season and senior Kreed Parr scored four points a night. If Macksville’s returners can replace the scoring of Delgadillo and Russell, the Mustangs will again be among the league powers in 201617. “We hope last season’s close losses as well as this year’s quality opponents will help us advance in the postseason,” Kuckelman said. Ellinwood boys Transfers hurt the 2015-16 Eagles. Another transfer and graduation will hit Derek Joiner’s squad even harder for the 206-17 season. Four year-player Tyson Martinez graduated, and sophomore Peyton Duvall transferred after playing in 20 varsity games last year. “Our program is in complete reset mode,” Joiner said. “We’ll have several unproven varsity players playing on our team due to many of our departures who chose to go play football at other high schools. “I see it as a great opportunity to reestablish our values necessary to have a program with long-term success.” Martinez averaged 14 points a night for an Eagle team that went 6-16 last year. Eric Jones played in 18 varsity games as a senior, and Duvall averaged 5.4 points and 3.5 rebounds a night. Senior Nathan Monday returns with a couple years of varsity experience. He averaged 10 points and six boards a night last winter. Junior Zack Jacobs averaged seven points a night, and junior Joel Kasselman put up six points and five boards a night. “Nathan Monday, Zack and Joel bring back the most amount of varsity experience,” said Joiner. “After that, we will be searching for young players who are eager to fill in new roles.” Other teams LaCrosse won nine games last year but loses a solid group of seniors. Senior Brett Herrman returns for his final campaign after putting up big numbers in each of the last two seasons. Victoria and Kinsley combined for just four wins last winter. Dylan Dronberger has back virtually his entire squad from last year. Senior Cooper Pfannenstiel returns as a leading scorer, and juniors Caden Oberle, Cooper Windholz, and Tyler Knoles also have the ability to score.