Chester Area – Season Outlook

PHD is back for another team preview. We are looking at the Chester Area Flyers. Adam Gale is the head coach for this squad and they play in Class B Region 4.

The Flyers easily have one the best mascots/logos (see picture below) in the State!

Last season, Chester finished the year with a 12-11 overall record and a 3-4 record in the Big East Conference. The Fylers finished 4th in the Best East Tournament. In the post-season, the Fylers avenged regular season losses to both Canistota and Howard en route to a Sweet 16 loss to eventual State Champion, the De Smet Bulldogs.

OFF-SEASON

Chester was a senior-heavy team last year and they graduated 8 players. Therefore, the Flyers will have many new roles to fill with underclassmen. This summer, Chester had to learn what their new identity would be. The Flyers spent the majority of the off-season working on individual skill sets and they also started to build a team foundation for the new group. Chester competed in team camps in Mitchell and at Dakota State University. It was a learning experience and it was great for them to compete as a team against new competition.

Returning Stat Leaders

Jovi Wolf Jovi Wolf 5'10" | SG Chester Area | 2024 State SD (2024) |5’9 G| -10.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg, .8 spg, 1.0 apg

Layke Wold Layke Wold 5'10" | CG Chester Area | 2025 State SD (2025) |5’10 G| – 2.5 ppg

Max McGreevy (2023) |6’2 F| – .5 ppg

Senior Analysis

Max McGreevy |6’2 F|

He is a 4-time varsity member and has started multiple games throughout his time at Chester. Every year Max has added a new element to his offensive game. Last year, he played 4 quarters of Junior Varsity to hone his skills and served as the first post off the bench in varsity situations. During the year his inside post moves really progressed as well as learning how to fight for tough defensive rebounds. Max has seen everything as a 4-year varsity member so he will be key in leading the Flyers moving forward.  

Clay Hansen |5’8 G|

Last season, Clay served as the primary shooting guard for the Junior Varsity as well as a backup guard off the bench in varsity situations. During his JV time, he became an outside scoring threat, a primary guard defender, and a key rebounder. 

Up-and-Comers 

Layke Wold Layke Wold 5'10" | CG Chester Area | 2025 State SD (2025) |5’10 G|

Young Mr. Wold will be a three-time varsity member. He saw an expanded role last year as a guard off the bench in varsity situations. Layke also saw valuable time as the full-time Junior Varsity point guard throughout the season. Wold can handle the ball with both hands and is an outside scoring threat along with an emerging slashing game. 

Brayden Schut (2024) |5’9 G/F|

Last season Schut served as a guard/forward on the Junior Varsity team and served as a situational sub for the varsity. Due to his versatility on the defensive end, he could serve as a forward sub or a guard given the situation. Brayden can shoot it well from the outside. This year he will be asked to play a larger role on the team by scoring, distributing, and doing the little things on both ends of the court.  

Garret Hansen (2025) |6’1 F|

Last season was Hansen’s first as a varsity member and he served primarily as a post option in Junior Varsity games. During this time, Garret gained valuable post experience. This season, Hansen will serve a larger role as a post off the bench in varsity situations to provide sparks of offense. Hansen is a great attacking post that can finish around the rim.  

Dalton Reiff (2024) |6’5 F|

He is Chester’s biggest post and Dalton’s size will be helpful when the Flyers face teams with a strong inside game. Chester will look to Dalton for defensive situational help for rebounds and a strong post presence on offense to outsize opposing teams in the paint.  

Coach Adam Gale comments on the Flyers style of basketball

“Due to graduating so many seniors, we are still searching for our identity as a group. We will have to dedicate a good part of the pre-season and the month of December to learning who we are and who we want to be. As always we will rely on our half-court defense to be our strength. We have always been undersized but our ability to defend as a team in the 1/2 court will always keep us in games.“

Coach Gale talks about Chester’s rivals   

“Howard has always been an opponent where the stakes are raised due to the fact we have always played each other when they were members of the Big East and have remained opponents despite them no longer being a member. In addition, due to the fact they are one of the few teams we consistently play each year in football has kept us connected as common opponents.”  

“Garretson is another team where our games over the last 5 years have always been close and come down to the last possession. In 3 of our last 4 games, the final play has decided the winner.” 

Coach Gale comments on the top teams in Region 4  

“Canistota—they return several players from a team that finished towards the top last year. They are a perennial powerhouse in both football and basketball and always have competitive teams year in and year out.”  

“Dell Rapids St. Mary—despite graduating a few seniors they will return a good core of young players as well as some transfers to help bolster their roster. Like Canistota they always put competitive teams together.”  

Good luck to the FLYERS this season!