Sectional 22: Previewing The Upcoming Season
The coming high school season is almost upon us. With that, we are taking a look at each Sectional in the state. Starting with 64 and ending with 1. Today, we are previewing Sectional 22 at New Haven. Teams: Angola, New Haven,…
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Continue ReadingThe coming high school season is almost upon us. With that, we are taking a look at each Sectional in the state. Starting with 64 and ending with 1. Today, we are previewing Sectional 22 at New Haven.
Teams: Angola, New Haven, Leo, Fort Wayne Concordia, Fort Wayne Dwenger, Garrett
Last Season: This past season in Sectional 22 at New Haven was a fun one as Angola was one of the better teams in the state with a 25-3 record and had two close games to get out of this Sectional and move on to Regionals. They only beat Leo, a 17-win team, by two points, and New Haven, a 17-win team, by three points in overtime of the Championship game. Concordia and Dwenger were solid but neither got over .500 last year and will be on different paths moving forward.
Contenders For 2016-17: This group of teams will be interesting to watch this coming season. Angola is coming of their best season since at least 1993-94, which is as far back as John Harrell goes. They built that senior group up for a few years and it all paid off last season but now they are going really miss those five outgoing seniors. Leo is also on the downswing as they lose Dylan Barrow and Kray Klopfenstein, a big majority of their offense. However, look for New Haven and Fort Wayne Dwenger to step back up into their normal place among the better teams in the Fort Wayne area. Dwenger will be very young but they have some solid guys coming back like Nick Passino, Campbell Donovan, Jack Pentenburg, and Hayden Smithey. Garrett and Concordia should struggle to build their programs up from last season.
Players to Watch: The guy to watch this season is going to be coming from a few different places. Hayden Smithey, the sophomore guard from Dwenger, could end of being one of the better players in the state sooner rather than later and look for him to be the key to Dwenger having a hugely successful season. They other darkhorse to watch is Ivan Upshaw of New Haven. The 6’3 wing is one of the many backcourt and wing options for New Haven but he’s the type of guy that can cause problems in their uptempo offense and he can play quick and with athleticism.