As December begins, the boys basketball team is preparing for a new season with high expectations.
Mr. Kelly and the boys are hoping to rebound from a tough loss in the state tournament last year. The team will be hoping to reach the state tournament again and make another deep run. Last years squad nearly made it to the state title falling just short after losing to Garfield in the State Semifinals.
Juniors Collin Welp and Aaron Nettles played key roles for the Panthers last year. This years team will feature some new faces after Jack Stewart and Jordan Kitchen graduated. Without last years leadership, the guys will have to be a tight knit group to get the season started.
With the glut of talent on this years team, the senior leadership of the VanHare brothers will be important to help the 5 underclassmen along. Juniors Collin Welp, Aaron Nettles, Jesse Franklin and Luke Pfister will also play key roles in helping Prep, hopefully, regain the state title. Sophomores Jaxon Woodward, Alex Flor, Kalu Stricklin, and Nic Lynch are all coming back to help propel the Panthers
gotten off to a solid start for their year, beating Shorewood by over 10 points and showing skillful team communication and coordination.
In the upcoming weeks, the Girls teams will be playing rivals such as Ballard, Bishop Blanchet, and Garfield, each of which have powerful arsenals that, as Alicia Bianchetto ’16 noted, “…will pose a challenge that we can be overcome with enough hardwork and persistence.”
Keep an eye on the Panthers in the coming weeks as there are games no one would want to miss.
forward. This teams length alone should be enough to scare off some smaller opponents as the line up features 6’ 10” Lynch and 6’9” Welp
Though the Panthers play in one of the toughest divisions in the nation, the weeks of practice and early morning open gyms will translate to success.
Later on in the season the boys are zoning in on the game vs Bainbridge on December 18 as a key game in their season. Prep will be in full support of the team this year as they start their season.