Clarkson/Leigh Boys and Girls have high hopes for season

Team: Clarkson/Leigh

Mascot: Patriots

Colors: Red, Blue, Gray

Class: C-2

Conference: East Husker

Head Coach: Jay Knaak (4th season) (42-33 record)

2014-2015 record: 14-11 (lost to Twin River in Sub Districts)

Returning Starters: 1

Overview:

The Clarkson/Leigh Boys hope to have success this year after having a fairly respectable season a year ago.

One starter returns for 4th year Head Coach Jay Knaak in the form of Kobe Paprocki (5'10 SR G).

Other returning letterwinners include Colby Becker (5'8 SR G), Ben McMullin (5'11 SR G), Seth Thompson (5'10 SR F), Dominik Harper (6'1 SR F), Brandon Steffensmeier (5'10 SR G), and Blake Paprocki (5'11 JR G-F).

The Patriots aren't going to be the most experienced team out there and appear to be height challenged in some ways, but Clarkson/Leigh's guard play appears it will be good, and the Patriots look like they have a couple of solid post players.

Knaak says his team figures to be solid from the perimeter, and could be a threat to fast break. "We will have some returning players that can shoot the ball from the outside. We should be able to get up and down the floor, if we can rebound on the defensive end."

Again, Clarkson/Leigh lacks height so positioning on rebounds will be critical for this team.

Knaak says the Patriots will have to outwork their opponents. "We will not have much height this year, with our post players at 6’1 or less. We will have to depend on grit and hard work to get on the boards and defend the bigger post players we have in the conference."

Guard play is going to be absolutely critical for this team, in my opinion. The guards have to carry this team and be the show. Clarkson/Leigh has to get up and down the floor as much as possible, and score in transition whenever possible. 

The Patriots should be a good shooting team, but they still need to work the ball inside to their posts. There may be nights when Clarkson/Leigh is off from the outside so the post players may be called upon to step up and carry the load on a particular night.

Season Outlook:

The Clarkson/Leigh Boys hope to avoid a late season slump this year like they had last year. 

Knaak expects his team to compete on a nightly basis. "We should be competitive in all of our games this year. We will have to depend on shooting the ball well from the outside, defending the post and forcing turnovers."

I would add that offensive rebounding will be important for the Patriots. Clarkson/Leigh needs to create as many second chance scoring opportunities as possible. 

This team has to be much better defensively than they were a year ago. The Patriots gave up over 50 points quite a bit last season, and that hurt them in some games, in my opinion.

Clarkson/Leigh's offense was good last year so there's not a lot the Patriots should do differently.

It's going to be very important for the Patriots' post players to stay out of foul trouble. I don't know what comes off the bench for Clarkson/Leigh, but the top players are no doubt going to be relied upon to play well and produce.

The post players have to play smart, straight up defense and can't pick up cheap fouls. 

They have to outwork the opponent for rebounds and loose balls.

There's probably going to be a lot of nights where the Patriots are the smaller team. That just means Clarkson/Leigh has to work harder than their opponent.

I think this team has a lot of potential given what they did last year and the kind of football season most of these kids were involved in.

The Patriots know how to win, and I expect Clarkson/Leigh to do quite a bit of it this season. 

The schedule has its challenges with the likes of Howells-Dodge, Bancroft-Rosalie, Humphrey St. Francis, Twin River, Wisner-Pilger, and Stanton on the slate, but look for the Patriots to give these teams a run for their money and beat some of the weaker teams on their schedule.

I think 15-20 wins is within reach for Clarkson/Leigh this season.

The Patriots host Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family on Friday to open up the season. 

2015-2016 Clarkson/Leigh Patriots Boys Basketball Schedule:

12/04/15	Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family	C2
12/05/15	@ Madison	C1
12/08/15	Oakland-Craig	C2
12/10/15	@ Winside	D2
12/12/15	@ Lyons-Decatur Northeast	D1
12/15/15	Guardian Angels Central Catholic	C2
12/17/15	@ Pender	D1
12/19/15	@ Howells-Dodge	D1
12/22/15	@ Bancroft-Rosalie	D2
12/28-12/29	(To Be Determined)							St. Edward Holiday Tournament	St. Edward High School
01/05/16	North Bend Central	C1
01/12/16	Tekamah-Herman	C1
01/12/16	Tekamah-Herman	C1
01/15/16	@ Humphrey St. Francis	D2
01/16/16	Shelby-Rising City	C2
01/19/16	@ Elgin Public/Pope John	C2
01/21/16	Twin River	C2
01/22/16	Lutheran High Northeast	C2
01/26/16	Wisner-Pilger	C1
01/29-02/06	(To Be Determined)							East Husker Conference Tour	TBA
02/11/16	Stanton	C2

Team: Clarkson/Leigh

Mascot: Patriots

Colors: Red, Blue, Gray

Class: C-2

Conference: East Husker

Head Coach: Matt Murren (3rd season) (17-30 record)

2014-2015 record: 8-16 (lost to Twin River in Sub Districts)

Returning Starters: 2



 
Overview:

The Clarkson/Leigh Girls hope to be a competitive group this season as the Patriots bring back two starters from last year's team that went 8-16.

Clarkson/Leigh will be without the services of Alyssa Novotny, who is a senior, and averaged 15.8 ppg and 10.6 rpg. She tore her ACL in first game of volleyball this season.

The Patriots will also have to make up for the loss of Alyssa Oeltjen, Sheila Reichmuth, and Hallee Held, who were all lost to graduation a year ago.

Head Coach Matt Murren says there are a number of freshman who could make an impact on this team. "We have a very talented freshman class coming in this year. All these girls are freshman and could contribute at the varsity level: Kaegan Held (G), Hannah Kasik (F), Beth Wiese (F), Paige Moore (F), Halee Steffensmeier (G)."

Murren says his team will look to score fast and make life difficult on the opponent with solid defense. "We look to run full court man to man. We try to play good, aggressive defensive, but preach to keep girl in front and make shoot from perimeter. We will sprinkle in some 1-2-2 half court and full court as well. Offensively we look to push the ball in transition and to score quickly if possible. We tend to run a lot of 1-4 sets in the half court when transition is being stopped."

Hard work could go a long ways in Clarkson/Leigh having a successful season. Murren says his squad is deep and their work ethic is second to none. "We have a hard working team that will work to the final buzzer every game. That is our number one strength. We could possibly play up to 10 girls so depth would be a strength as long as every contributes and does their roles."

Scoring was an issue for the Patriots a season ago. Murren says his team has to do a better job of putting the ball in the hole. "We've got to make more shots. We've done a good job in the past in getting shots at the rim but must finish. We look to get 55 shots per game so that will be key."

Clarkson/Leigh was held under 40 points in 13 games last season, and under 30 four times. That has to change if the Patriots want to be successful this season.

Season Outlook:

The Clarkson/Leigh Girls hope to be good this season. Murren says it comes down to winning close games. "We did go 8-16 last year, but we were in about every game just got to figure out a way to close out victories. We have a group of very hard-working girls that will work hard each day to improve from last season's total. "

The Patriots lost seven games by 10 points or less a season ago. Murren says his team's defense has to lead to their offense. "We've got to get stops defensively to allow our offense to get into transition. If we can push in transition we can have a very successful year, but it will all start at the defensive end for us."

Clarkson/Leigh only gave up 50 or more points five times last season so defense definitely appears to be the strength of this team.

Murren is ready to go. "Very optimistic and excited to get things started. It'll be a fun season and can't wait for December 4th. "

The Patriots open up the season at home against Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family on Friday.

Lyons-Decatur Northeast, East Butler, Pender, Howells-Dodge, Humphrey St. Francis, Shelby/Rising City, Elgin Public/Pope John, Twin River, and Stanton are all most likely going to be difficult challenges for Clarkson/Leigh.

There are a lot of winnable games on the schedule for the Patriots, but many challenging games as well. It will be important for Clarkson/Leigh to play consistent defense night in and night out, and step up and score the ball better than they did last year.

I think anywhere from 12-15 wins is possible for this team if they play up to their potential.

Projected starting lineup (Height, Grade, position, how many years starting experience)

Keegan Held, 9, PG, 5'4 (1st year starting)

Camille Koehn, 12, G, 5'7 (1st year starting)

Megan Svehla, 12, G, 5'7 (1st year starting)

Maddie Cerv, 12, G/F, 5'4 (3rd year starting)

Shelby Paprocki, 11, F, 5'8 (2nd year starting)

2015-2016 Clarkson/Leigh Patriots Girls Basketball Schedule:

12/04/15	Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family	C2
12/05/15	@ Madison	C1
12/08/15	Oakland-Craig	C2
12/10/15	@ Winside	D2
12/12/15	@ Lyons-Decatur Northeast	D2
12/15/15	Guardian Angels Central Catholic	C2
12/17/15	@ Pender	D1
12/19/15	@ Howells-Dodge	D1
12/22/15	@ Bancroft-Rosalie	D2
12/28-12/29	(To Be Determined)							St. Edward Holiday Tournament	St. Edward High School
01/05/16	North Bend Central	C1
01/12/16	Tekamah-Herman	C1
01/15/16	@ Humphrey St. Francis	D2
01/16/16	Shelby-Rising City	C2
01/19/16	@ Elgin Public/Pope John	C2
01/21/16	Twin River	C2
01/22/16	Lutheran High Northeast	C2
01/26/16	Wisner-Pilger	C2
01/29-02/06	(To Be Determined)							East Husker Conference Tour	TBA
02/11/16	Stanton	C2