This is the sixth installment of a six-part series of columns that look ahead to the upcoming high school sports year for our six area schools.
– June 21 — SCC Titans
– June 24 — Yates Center Wildcats
– June 27 — Crest Lancers
– July 1 — Humboldt Cubs
– July 8 — Iola Mustangs/Fillies
– Today — Marmaton Valley Wildcats
With a small senior class, the Marmaton Valley boys teams lacked a lot of experience going into this past year.But what was a handicap last year allows the Wildcats to return a majority of their athletes for 2017-18.
The basketball and baseball teams are the least affected by graduation with no senior starters last season and they will each be looking to make tremendous strides this season.
BASKETBALL
In addition to not have a single senior on last year’s team, the Wildcat basketball program also had a new coach with Jason Bauer taking the reins.
All of this transition led to some growing pains for the young Wildcats.
Not only were the Wildcats young, but they were also small with no player standing over 6-feet tall.
The Wildcats struggled throughout the season, but late in the year, they began to come together with the team playing a scrappy, hard-nosed brand of basketball.
The leader of this resurgence was point guard Justice Pugh, whose tough defense and relentless drives to the basket set the tone for the entire team.
Pugh will be back for his senior year this season and will be a looking to lead the Wildcats to new heights.
Along with Pugh, the Wildcats will have three other seniors with Josh Wise, Brock Hall and Korbin Smith.
Smith was the team’s primary forward last season as the tallest player on the team at 6-foot. Despite having the tough assignment of going against taller competition each night, Smith embraced his role inside and did a lot of the dirty work for the Wildcats inside.
Wise and Hall, along with junior Gage Griffith, Caiden Elloit and Isaac Heskett give Bauer a lot of experience around Smith and Pugh.
FOOTBALL
Just like Bauer’s basketball team, Gavin Cole’s Wildcat football team is overflowing with experience at the playmaking positions.
At quarterback, Justice Pugh is back for his second year under center after earning a spot amongst the All-Three Rivers League Honorable Mention selections last season.
Pugh ran for seven touchdowns with 253 yards. He threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns. All those totals are likely to see an uptick in 2017 and a primary reason for that is who will be lining up in the backfield with Pugh.
Trevor Wilson gives the Wildcats a game-breaker at the running back position. The senior earned a First Team All-Three Rivers spot last season by rushing for 717 yards on 114 carries with 10 touchdowns.
Brock Hall also returns as the team’s leading receiver last season. He finished as an All-League Honorable Mention pick with 167 yards and two touchdowns.
The defense is led by its secondary where Pugh and Hall proved their worth as ball-hawks last season. Pugh finished the year with four interceptions and Hall had two.
Wilson anchors the team’s linebacking corps.
TRACK & FIELD
The Wildcat track and field team had to undergo some transition last season following the graduations of standouts Brady Newman and Austin Deer, but by the end of the season, they once again had a representative at the State Championships in Wichita.
Will Holeman made tremendous strides with the discus last season and earned his ticket to state.
Holeman will return for his senior year with his eyes on the state podium and will lead the Wildcat squad that continues to rebuild around him.
The cross-country team will also be rebuilding after the graduation of its only member Dmitri Lamping.
BASEBALL
Derek Scharff saw his team make great strides throughout the season last year and improve to the point where they finished the season at 7-12 and won a regional playoff game.
Now with nearly an entire roster returning, the Wildcats will look to turn that one win into multiple.
The hope for a postseason run starts on the mound where sophomore Lane Bahnsen and senior Justice Pugh headline the Wildcat pitching staff. Pugh and Bahnsen shared the team-lead in wins last year with three each.
Pugh also leads the lineup after he hit .444 this past year with 20 runs scored.
Bahnsen took the second spot in the order and also managed to hit over .400 at .408.
Shortstop Caiden Elliot saw a major uptick in production as a junior last season as he took over the shortstop position full-time and also hit .340 with a team-high in RBIs with 21 and doubles with four.
After those top three batters, the Wildcats were able to count on solid production from seniors Korbin Smith, Trevor Wilson and Brock Hall. All three players hit over .300 and are consistent run-producers in the middle of the Wildcat batting order.
The biggest key for Scharff’s team going into 2018 will be filling out the bottom third of the order where they lacked consistent production all season last year.
Junior first baseman Isaac Heskett will slot into the lineup somewhere after hitting .288 last season, but the final two spots seem up for grabs with no other Wildcat managing to hit over .200 last season.
