Grizzlies have look of contender
Boys squad won 17 games, returns nearly everybody
Tony Hewitt leads a large contingent of Wadsworth players who should be back for their third year next season. Photo by BRUCE BILLOW
There hasn’t been a Wadsworth boys basketball season as eagerly anticipated in years as the 2017-18 campaign is going to be. That’s with plenty of good reason.
The Grizzlies were already very good this year. They flirted with the Suburban League National Conference championship. They were 17-7 overall, 11-3 in the SL-National. They had wins over both front runners, Stow and Brecksville, this season and beat every conference team at least once.
Wadsworth did all that with a team that was basically all underclassmen. They have a group that has already spent two full varsity seasons together. In 2015-16, they took some lumps, but the growing pains paid off this season and should do so even more next season.
In short, what’s coming up in 2017-18 is the fruition of a few years of sweat equity and a season worthy of looking forward to.
“The staff, the whole staff, has put in a lot of hard work and a lot of time,” Grizzlies coach Mike Schmeltzer said. “To see Wadsworth basketball where it was when I played and where it was when some of those other guys played back in the early-90s, late-2000s, it’s exciting to see.”
David Griffin, a back-up forward, was the only senior on the team. Elsewhere are about a dozen multi-year letter-winners and five multi-year starters. Those groups are spread nicely between juniors and sophomores, so the Grizzlies should have some continued and sustained success.
They have a good mix of size, speed and shooting and have enough players back who can be difference-makers that there will be some good intra-squad battles for spots.
“What we have coming back overall is going to be fun,” Schmeltzer said. “It’s going to be fun because it’s going to be competitive this year. We have some other sophomores that have been working hard for a long time.”
In the frontcourt should be 6-foot-5 junior Reid Black, who made a big leap both in size and skill from his sophomore year. He’ll be joined by a pair of current 6-3 sophomores, Jack Simmons and Beau Casey.
Simmons is probably already past his listed height and showed late in the season he should be a front-of-the-rotation player next year if he develops a bit more, physically and skill-wise. He’s potentially the Grizzlies’ first true post player in a half-dozen years or so, since Josh Kipfer graduated.
“Jack will work hard in the offseason and there’s no question that he’s got a ton of potential,” Schmeltzer said. “He’s already got that frame that we haven’t had in a long time. So we’re excited about him. We’re excited about the progress that Beau Casey made this year.”
The backcourt, meanwhile, is loaded. Of the 15 names on Wadsworth’s varsity roster, 11 belonged to guards. Back for their third season of varsity ball should be Mitchell Blackburn, Christian Szalay, Tony Hewitt and Jacob Justice. Sophomore Carson Risher showed glimpses this year as well and adds to what should be a very heavy rotation next season.
The summer is always pivotal, but may be more so for a team with roster battles. Grizzly fans should have a good idea next winter who was putting the time in this summer.
The Grizzlies were already very good this year. They flirted with the Suburban League National Conference championship. They were 17-7 overall, 11-3 in the SL-National. They had wins over both front runners, Stow and Brecksville, this season and beat every conference team at least once.
Wadsworth did all that with a team that was basically all underclassmen. They have a group that has already spent two full varsity seasons together. In 2015-16, they took some lumps, but the growing pains paid off this season and should do so even more next season.
In short, what’s coming up in 2017-18 is the fruition of a few years of sweat equity and a season worthy of looking forward to.
“The staff, the whole staff, has put in a lot of hard work and a lot of time,” Grizzlies coach Mike Schmeltzer said. “To see Wadsworth basketball where it was when I played and where it was when some of those other guys played back in the early-90s, late-2000s, it’s exciting to see.”
David Griffin, a back-up forward, was the only senior on the team. Elsewhere are about a dozen multi-year letter-winners and five multi-year starters. Those groups are spread nicely between juniors and sophomores, so the Grizzlies should have some continued and sustained success.
They have a good mix of size, speed and shooting and have enough players back who can be difference-makers that there will be some good intra-squad battles for spots.
“What we have coming back overall is going to be fun,” Schmeltzer said. “It’s going to be fun because it’s going to be competitive this year. We have some other sophomores that have been working hard for a long time.”
In the frontcourt should be 6-foot-5 junior Reid Black, who made a big leap both in size and skill from his sophomore year. He’ll be joined by a pair of current 6-3 sophomores, Jack Simmons and Beau Casey.
Simmons is probably already past his listed height and showed late in the season he should be a front-of-the-rotation player next year if he develops a bit more, physically and skill-wise. He’s potentially the Grizzlies’ first true post player in a half-dozen years or so, since Josh Kipfer graduated.
“Jack will work hard in the offseason and there’s no question that he’s got a ton of potential,” Schmeltzer said. “He’s already got that frame that we haven’t had in a long time. So we’re excited about him. We’re excited about the progress that Beau Casey made this year.”
The backcourt, meanwhile, is loaded. Of the 15 names on Wadsworth’s varsity roster, 11 belonged to guards. Back for their third season of varsity ball should be Mitchell Blackburn, Christian Szalay, Tony Hewitt and Jacob Justice. Sophomore Carson Risher showed glimpses this year as well and adds to what should be a very heavy rotation next season.
The summer is always pivotal, but may be more so for a team with roster battles. Grizzly fans should have a good idea next winter who was putting the time in this summer.