The Tomahawk Preview

<p>Last year Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s won the league and made a push to the final four of the Class A State Tournament.  Can the Knights have a similar season?  Who will be their top challenger?  We dive into the nine league Tomahawk Conference today!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Ten</strong>:  Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s</p> <p>SESM brings back their three all league league players who were of course their three best players a season ago on a state tournament team.  They have three goals this year: league title, section title, state title.  They will make that push and with three all league starters returning plus their bench, they have the horses to do it </p> <p><strong>Potential Top Ten:</strong> New Ulm Cathedral</p> <p>The Greyhounds were an 11-5 team in league play last year and we think that they will be even better this year.  They have maybe the toughest player to defend in this league in Knowles and some real up and coming talent.  </p> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Minnesota Valley Lutheran, Wabasso, GFW, Springfield, Cedar Mountain, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart</p> <p>MVL is always a solid team and they will be again.  Not sure they have the size or level of talent they’ve had but they will still be a tough opponent. Wabasso has a nice combination of solid seniors and up and coming sophomores that should improve on a 10-10 season.  GFW was a team of mostly seniors last year so there will be a lot of new faces trying to match that .500 season.  Springfield was 8-11 a season ago and lost their top player.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is the Tigers have four starters back for this season and should at least flip the record from three wins under .500 to three wins over. Cedar Mountain may have the best chance at a top three finish.  Why?  The scoring duo of Caden Kleinschmidt and Dakota Pendleton.  Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart was a four win team last season but their senior class should double that win total </p> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Sleepy Eye</p> <p>It still baffles me how Sleepy Eye could have a player the caliber of Kegan Heiderscheidt and only win two games. Kegan is now at SMSU on scholarship and you have to wonder where Sleepy Eye goes now. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>21-22 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <ol> <li>Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s</li> <li>New Ulm Cathedral</li> <li>Springfield</li> <li>Wabasso</li> <li>Cedar Mountain</li> <li>Minnesota Valley Lutheran</li> <li>Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart</li> <li>Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop</li> <li>Sleepy Eye</li> </ol> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Preseason All Tomahawk Conference</strong></p> <p><strong><u>First Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958817" first="Sam" last="Knowles"] of New Ulm Cathedral (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1144112" first="Carson" last="Domeier"] of Sleepy Eye St.Mary’s (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1201129" first="Trent" last="Steffensmeier"] of Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (sr)</p> <p>Kaleb Wait of Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s (jr)</p> <p>Caden Kleinschmidt of Cedar Mountain (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Second Team</u></strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284158" first="Jevan" last="Wilfahrt"] of New Ulm Cathedral (so)</p> <p>Isaac Kronback of Wabasso (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958813" first="Brendon" last="Buerkle"] of Springfield (sr)</p> <p>Dakota Pendleton of Cedar Mountain (jr)</p> <p>David Wilfahrt of New Ulm Cathedral (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Third Team</u></strong></p> <p>James Coffland of Springfield (sr)</p> <p>Christian Edwards of Minnesota Valley Lutheran (sr)</p> <p>Connor McColley of Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (sr)</p> <p>Brody Hentges of GFW (sr)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Fourth Team</u></strong></p> <p>Carter Hillesheim of Springfield (sr)</p> <p>Luke Thompson of Minnesota Valley Lutheran (sr)</p> <p>Ashten Bergstrom of Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (sr)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284232" first="Will" last="Walter"] of Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s (so)</p>