by Tad Heitkamp, JV Head Coach
On Saturday, the Garretson Boys Varsity Basketball team headed to Chester to open its season on the court. Despite a hard-fought game, the team took the loss, 34-55.
Jacob Huemiller took the reins as head coach this year, as former head coach Tad Heitkamp stepped back into the assistant coach and JV Head Coach positions.
The JV Garretson Blue Dragons basketball team hit the road on December 9th, 2023, and traveled to Chester for a season opening battle against Big East opponent the Chester Flyers.
The Blue Dragons jumped out to an early lead in the 1st quarter (14-6), but the Flyers battled back as they were only down three points going into halftime (21-18).
“We did an excellent job the opening 6 minutes executing our offense, which led to some easy scoring opportunities,” stated coach Heitkamp. “Unfortunately, we got a little lazy on the defensive end in the second stanza, which gave the Flyers a little momentum going into halftime (21-18).”
The second half was back and forth for the entire 12 minutes, but the visiting Blue Dragons were able to hang on for a 43 to 40 victory.
“We learned a lot about ourselves after this hard-fought victory,” mentioned Heitkamp. “We realize that you have to compete every moment you are on the court…plus the kids understood their roles as a Blue Dragon teammate, which is going to keep us in a lot of games this season.”
Brecken Weir and Treyton Decker led the way with 14 and 13 points each, while Carter Siemonsma dropped in 8 points of his own. Collin Olson added 5 points, as Cole Jessen rounded out the scoring with 3 points.
The teams stayed in the Dragon's Lair on Tuesday, as they battled Canton (results not available at press time). They head to Hartford to face Tri-Valley on Friday, and will be back at home on Monday, December 18 with opponents from West Central. JV starts at 6:15 p.m., and Varsity will begin at 7:30 p.m.
