The Valley Conference Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We dive into the Valley and tell you what we see for this winter! This league..... its wide open. No team was over .500 last year so it's anybody's to win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Contenders</strong>: Cleveland, Madelia, Mankato Loyola, Truman/Martin Lutheran/Granada-Huntley-East Chain, Alden-Conger</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I think Cleveland is going to take a big step this year and NO it's not because I am a Cleveland Browns fan (which is painful) and I like things that are orange and named Cleveland, I believe that after the progress they made last year and with what they have back, I like them to take a nice step forward. They have three all league players returning. They also beat Alden-Conger twice last year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Madelia is another team that improved from 22-23 to 23-24 is Madelia, and Madelia has the most back from all the teams that we think will take a step forward next year. The Madelia rotation loses only one guy and they have a pair of all league players returning. Madelia also has one of the best young players in the league, Kaydon Firchau.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mankato Loyola might have the other top young player in Covin Winter, a 6'4 freshman big. Loyola lost their top player but they bring back four guys who started games last year plus reserves. They were 14-14 a season ago and seem to be in the best spot of the many improving teams, to take a big step. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Truman/Martin Lutheran/Granada-Huntley-East Chain had a nice finish to the year either beating all of these contenders at the end of last year, or playing a lot of close games. They have most of their rotation back and they are also a contending team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alden-Conger returns seven players from their nine man rotation and they return their best players from a team that improved and won 13 games. They should be able to get over .500 which is another nice progression for them and this is a senior strong team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Martin County West</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Martin County West won only five games last year but they should be better. They have their best players returning and they have a lot of seniors. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:&nbsp;</strong>Nicollet</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nicollet won zero games last year and they have no seniors this year. Seems like another year as they build towards the future. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>24-25 Conference Prediction</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Mankato Loyola</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Cleveland</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Alden-Conger</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Truman/Martin Lutheran/Granada-Huntley-East Chain</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Madelia</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Martin County West</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) Nicollet</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Valley</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brennan Kortuem of Cleveland (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Josiah Demaris of Madelia (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Andrew Mosemoen of Alden-Conger (Sr) AC</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126152' first='Carson' last='Lyons'] of Cleveland (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Preston Grams of Mankato Loyola (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jacob Wilmes of Martin County West (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jackson Madsen of Truman/Martin Lutheran/Granada-Huntley-East Chain (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blake Lyons of Cleveland (Sr) HM</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2411257' first='Bryce' last='Borkenhagen'] of Truman/Martin Lutheran/Granada-Huntley-East Chain (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kaydon Firchau of Madelia (Fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chase Kijenski of Mankato Loyola (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Covin Winter of Mankato Loyola (Fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brody Grathwohl of of Truman/Martin Lutheran/Granada-Huntley-East Chain (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kyle Larson Martin County West (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>TJ O'Malley of Mankato Loyola (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Carson Kettner of Nicollet (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1935505' first='Quentin' last='Guanella'] of Alden-Conger (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hayden Jones of Madelia (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Justice Casey of Alden-Conger (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Anthony Zaleski of Madelia (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2411260' first='Eli' last='Jensen'] of of Truman/Martin Lutheran/Granada-Huntley-East Chain (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->