Watford boys host Hazen to open cage season
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
After finishing last season with a second place finish in the District 15 and Region 8 tournaments, Randy Cranston, head coach of the Wolves boys varsity basketball team, is looking to improve on last year’s 15-8 record.
“I feel we have a good set of players returning and another four or five players that will contribute throughout the year,” states Cranston. “We will be in a wide open region where a handful of teams should have a shot at going to the State Tournament.”
And Cranston fells that with a returning nucleus of players, as well as quality players coming off the bench, the Wolves have a good chance of being at the top of the district and region when tournament time rolls around.
“We have David Kline, Logan Fettig, Bo Cook and Seth Indegard back from last year’s team, and I’ll be looking to them for leadership on the floor,” states Cranston.
Kline and Fettig led the Wolves in scoring last year, while Cook broke into the starting lineup in the second half of the season and Indegard was the first off the bench.
“I feel we will have a deep team that can score in bunches at a time,” states Cranston. “However, we need to become more consistent and get a team first mentality. We will need to become better students of the game and get a better understanding of who, what, when, where and how, throughout the season. If we can stay healthy and play team basketball on both sides of the floor, we can be one of the handful that has a chance at making it to State.”
Leading the way for the Wolves will be Kline, a 5’11” All-District and All-Region senior guard, who averaged 18 points per game, and Fettig, a 6’3” senior post, who averaged 10.5 points and seven rebounds per game last season.
Returning from last year’s squad is Bo Cook, a 5’10” senior; Brenden Leaming, a 5’10” senior; Charlie Villanueva, a 5’10” senior; Korbin Knutson, a 5’10” junior; Greg Kleppen, a 5’7” junior; Seth Indegard, a 6’0” junior; Devin Marquardt, a 5’10” junior; Andrew Reed, a 5’9” junior; and Cole McGorman, a 6’2” sophomore.
“Our season end goal is always to make the State Tournament,” states Cranston. “Our daily goals are to work harder then anybody and have fun. When you are able to do these two things, success usually happens, and it might not be in wins and losses.”
The Wolves will open their 2014-15 campaign on Saturday, Dec. 13, when they host Hazen before traveling to Minot on Tuesday, Dec. 16, to take on Bishop Ryan.