Shelby County Athletic League Preview

<p>The Shelby County Athletic League has an amazing year in 2020-21. First off, Botkins brought home a state title. Anna and Jackson Center played for District titles with Anna advancing into the Regionals. Russia showed glimpses of being a special group in route to a Sectional finals appearance along with Fort Loramie. The league has enough players back to again have success come March. For now though, we start with previewing each team.</p> <p><em>Anna</em>- Even after losing 4 starters from the year prior, Anna still found a way to make the Regional Semifinals and accumulate 21 wins in route to splitting the SCAL title with Botkins last season. The Rockets are losing 2 of their top 3 players from a season ago but have the culture and coaching they should continue to stick around near the top of the SCAL. <strong>McKane Finkenbine</strong> (2022) has All-League potential and should be a high scoring option for the Rockets and their outstanding offense.</p> <p><em>Botkins</em>- The Trojans are back after winning a state title in Division IV last season. 4 of the top 7 in total are back and bring all of that experience with them. <strong>Jacob </strong>(2022) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1165701" first="Carter" last="Pleiman"]</strong> (2023) are the key players returning for this group and have a vast amount of talent between the two of them. Now for the departures. Coach Sean Powell left for Lima Bath and his son Jayden Priddy-Powell also graduates. The biggest question mark besides whether Botkins can again replicate the success they had in the postseason is who will handle the basketball for them?</p> <p><em>Fairlawn</em>- Expectations were high last season for Fairlawn as they were returning so many pieces from a team that played well down the stretch of 2019-20. Unfortunately the Jets failed to finish above .500 and now must move on after graduating twins Ashton and Skyler Piper. There is too much talent back in the SCAL for the Jets to be competing this year. Expect this season to be a building year. </p> <p><em>Fort Loramie</em>- The Redskins graduate an incredible senior class including wing scorer Caeleb Meyer and interior threat Grant Albers. Coach Corey Britton knows how to reload his program and still has some guys returning that should continue to keep Loramie relevant within the SCAL. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="867944" first="Caleb" last="Maurer"]</strong> (2023) shined as a sophomore last season and likely looks to be the primary scoring threat entering this season. His shooting capabilities and improved explosiveness makes matching up with him a challenge. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1195018" first="Ethan" last="Keiser"]</strong> (2023) should see his role improve this year as well. Loramie is too good of a program that they will drop off entirely. Even if they are down in the SCAL, they always find ways to compete in the District tournament.  </p> <p><em>Houston</em>- Houston really struggled throughout the season and finished 1-21. To make matters worse, Wyatt Kunk, one of their top players, is now gone after graduating. For Houston, this season is about continuing to establish themselves. They don’t have the luxury of having some of the talent their fellow SCAL members have and it also doesn’t help when 3 of the 7 members were competing for District titles last year. They must find ways to lock down on the defensive end and utilize this to their advantage. </p> <p><em>Jackson Center</em>- Whenever a program loses such an instrumental player like Aidan Reichert, it’s hard to have a ton of confidence in that team having a successful following season. Good thing Jackson Center isn’t like other programs. The Tigers and their philosophy of next-man-up return juniors <strong>Jace Mullenhour</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="976077" first="Camdyn" last="Reese"]</strong> from a season ago. Coach Scott Elchert always has his team playing well at the right time and his coaching toughness translates onto his players who in turn play extremely hard for him. The Tigers should be in the running still to compete in the SCAL.</p> <p><em>Russia</em>- The Raiders struggled within the SCAL a year ago, but were above .500 outside the league. Depending on quite a few youth players last season, Russia was competitive and found themselves in the Sectional finals last year. <strong>Hayden Quinter</strong> (2024) had a solid freshman year and had the toughness needed to excel in the SCAL as a freshman. <strong>Zane Shappie</strong> (2023) was impressive running the point and has a high ceiling. Can the Raiders translate their sectional run to wins within the league in 2021-22?</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>