The St. Joseph Falcons senior boys’ basketball team is excited to return to the court for another season.
A year after losing in the 3A central zone league final to Camrose, the Falcons are looking to return once again and this time plan on a different result.
This week they started their season off right winning their first league game against HJ Cody 90-55 at home.
Head coach Tom West said they’re excited they have a great group of kids this season.
“They work really hard and are very dedicated. It’s been a lot of fun so far,” he said. “We’ve got some nice returning players and we’ve got some players coming up from our JV team.”
With only three returning players from last year’s team the Falcons have six players in Grade 12, four in Grade 11, and two in Grade 10. Most of the players are new to the senior level but West believes they’ll be competitive this year.
“It’s also really early in the season and we haven’t seen a lot of teams so we really don’t know how to gage ourselves,” he said. “We didn’t manage to get a lot of games in last year because of the pandemic. Personally, I am just trying to get a feel for the teams throughout the province.”
The roster for the Falcons includes Alejandro Vizcarra, Jose Flores, Windyboy Yellowbird, Kevin Basangan, Matthew Murray, Satveer Gill, Henry Castillo, Sander Sampson, John Contreras, Isaac Martin, Jovan Cagape, and Drew West.
They will for the majority of the time go up against 3A competition but will also play plenty of 4A teams, especially their fellow Red Deerians.
West explained the Falcons have relied on their guards to lead the way offensively but have two Grade 10 boys who are at least six-foot-five and are slowly improving.
“The hope is if they can get up to game speed and get that experience at the high school level they’ll be really good contributors for our team,” West said.
“Things are pointing in the right direction for us and we’re happy with that.”