At first glance, the Northern Heights boys appear to be heading for a tough season after graduating all five of their starters off last year’s 18-4 squad.
Gone are Rick Hobson, Derek Parks, Jake Weakley, J.W. Roeder and Cody Neidfeldt, the entire starting lineup from a season ago.
But no worries, says coach Lanny Massey. Things aren’t as bleak as they might seem for the Wildcats.
“I think we will have a good team again this year,” Massey said. “We may have graduated five starters, but we bring back a significant amount of experience at the varsity level. We also bring up a group of young kids that know how to win at the lower levels.”
There will be no shortage of upperclassmen on this year’s squad, as all five of Heights’ projected starters are seniors, while the next five players Massey lists off his bench consist of a senior and four juniors.
It all starts with 6-foot-6, 210-pound center Haydon Parks, an All-Flint Hills League selection a year ago after averaging 8.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
The big man down low will be joined by plenty of complementing size, as the 6-4, 250-pound David Hanks is expected to fill one forward spot while Pete Symmonds, at 6-2, 185 pounds, will occupy the other forward/guard spot.
Where Heights is expected to have the most growing pains could be at guard. Levi Hizar and Michael Glass will attempt to make up for the production lost by the graduation of Weakley, Roeder and Neidfeldt.
Hizar averaged 3.4 points and 1 rebound per game last year while Glass averaged 2.3 points and 2 assists per game.
Senior Tyler McClellan leads the reserves off the bench, while Ryan Swanson, Kenneth Bronson, Derrek Swanson and Roman Murray — all juniors — provide the depth for the Wildcats.
All told, Massey said he expected this season’s team to continue the recent run of success Northern Heights has had over Massey’s four years at the school in which the Wildcats have gone 51-15.
“We had a very good year last year, but we fell short of our goal of the State tournament,” Massey said. “We will succeed if we can convert winning at the JV and freshman levels into winning at the varsity level.”
Northern Heights gets its season underway Friday night with a home game against Lyndon.