Oakesdale boys are young but ready

OAKESDALE - After finishing the regular season as league champions with an 11-1 record, the Oakesdale Nighthawks will look to be a force on the court again this season.

The Nighthawks won a regional game against Sound Christian to qualify to play in Spokane Arena last season, but fell to Neah Bay, 58-45 to end their season with a record of 17-8. This year, Oakesdale is back and ready to defend its league championship.

Oakesdale graduated four out of the seven players in the varsity rotation from last season and will look to fill those spots as the season progresses.

"We have some good pieces to fill those roles if we figure out how to work hard, stay positive, compete consistently and work together as a team," said Oakesdale head coach Carl Crider. "We want to compete for the top spots in our league to guarantee ourselves a position in the playoffs and a chance to move on to regionals and state."

Seniors this year include Dawson Lobdell at forward and Charlie Henning at wing. The prospective starters are Lobdell, Emeric Anderson, Ryker Reed, Caleb Wagner and Jake Melhus. Expected contributors will be Henning, Tyler Dingman and Avery Roper.

There are three returning varsity players from last season in Lobdell, Anderson and Reed. The total roster for this year is 17 high school players.

This is Coach Crider's 11th consecutive season as the varsity boys coach and 13th overall as head coach at Oakesdale. He has a record of 145-122. Crider is assisted by Mike Mchargue.

"It is going to be interesting how our league shapes up with Garfield-Palouse returning almost all of their roster," Crider said. "Pomeroy is looking to reload after graduating some players but also returning quite a bit of veteran varsity experience. Most of the other teams are looking to build off some late season success from last year and make their mark in this season's league standings. Everyone is going to feel like they have something to prove and I expect most every league game to be a hard-fought contest."

Oakesdale opens its season with a home game against the Odessa Tigers at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3. The Nighthawks will then play an away game against the Colton Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7