Basketball season is in full swing at Okawville High School!  Along with the boys JV and varsity teams, the freshman and sophomore team have also started competing.  Okawville is fortunate and has enough boys that play basketball that they have enough to form a freshman and a sophomore team.  The freshmen consist of #3 Evan Perry, #4 Dillon Teter, #5 Hayden Hagarty, #10 Grant Schleifer, #12 Landen Schmersahl, #14 Dusty Wilfong, #20 Joseph Jansen, #22 Jared Juenger, #24 Hayden Schubert, #30 Andrew Savard, and #32 Franklin Walthes.  The sophomore team consists of #3 Cole Wiedwilt, #4 Luke Bornemann, #10 Garrett Green, #12 Levi Traub, #14 Evan Miller, #22 Dylan Clark, #24 Wilson Welch, #30 Tyson Thompson, #32 Harrison Borrenpohl, and #34 Dominic Perry.

The freshmen team’s record is 0-8.  Although their record is not the best, the team is getting better and improving each day.  They opened their season at Pinckneyville on November 25, to fall short 24-64 to the Panthers.  Teter and Schleifer lead the Rockets with 8 points a piece. Schmersahl and Shubert each scored 3 and Wilfong chipped in 2.  They then hosted Gibault on December 9th and lost with a score of 36-39. The leading scorer was Schmersahl with 11 total points.  Teter and Shubert both scored 8, Walthes with 6, Wilfong with a 3, and Schleifer with 2. On December 12th, the Rockets hosted Red Bud, to fall short 46-50 but played an overall great game.  Schmersahl led with 12, with Shubert right behind with 11 total. Teter with 9, Schleifer, Jansen, and Juenger all chipped in 4, and Wilfong scored 2.

Trico traveled to OHS to play the Rockets on December 13th.  The Rockets fell short 36-37 but put up a great fight. Schmersahl and Shubert with 12 a piece to lead the Rockets, Schleifer with a total of 7, Wilfong with 3, Juenger chipped in 2, and Jansen with 1 point. The next day the Rockets were at it again. The team traveled to Freeburg and lost 28-51.  Schmersahl lead with 11 points, followed by Shubert with 8, Walthes with 4, Juenger and Jansen both had 2, and Perry had 1. On December 21st they traveled to Central to come short 33-55. With 14 points, Teter led the Rockets. Schleifer and Shubert scored 5, Perry had 4, Walthes with 3, and Schmersahl with 2 points. 

Okawville then had a break from games until they traveled to Steeleville on January 6th and lost 18-53. Teter had 10 total, Shubert scored 4, and Schleifer and Juenger both chipped in with 2 each. They recently played at Highland to fall short 26-43 to the Bulldogs on January 8th. Tetel lead with 8, Schmersahl, Juenger, and Shubert had 4, Wilfong with 3, Schliefer had 2, and Jansen with 1.  The freshman have not been able to use center Andrew Savard as help in games as he is suffering from a knee injury. The team keeps improving as the season goes on.

The sophomore team’s record is 0-4.  Sadly, not many schools have sophomore teams.  The sophomores also played their first game at Pinckneyville on November 25th and fell short 14-48.  Traub led with 7, Clark had 5, and Miller chipped in 2. They did not play again until December 12th against Red Bud and lost 46-51.  Wiedwilt lead the Rockets with 11 points, Miller to follow with 9, Welch had 6, Bornemann scored 5, Green Traub and Borrenpohl each had 4, and Clark with 3. 

They traveled to Freeburg on December 14th to fall short 39-69 to the Midgets. Perry lead with 11, followed by Bornemann with 10, Borrenpohl had 6, Clark with 4, and Green, Traub, Miller, and Welch all chipped in 2 each. 

Their most recent game was at Central on December 21st and lost 24-58. Green lead with 7, Bornemann followed with 6, Welch had 5 total, Traub with 3, Clark chipped in 2, and Wiedwilt had 1. Wiedwilt did not play for a short period of time due to a possible concussion.  After a short time, he was back playing again.

On December 18th, the sophomores and freshmen Schleifer, Shcmersahl,  and Shubert traveled to Sparta to play a combined freshman and sophomore game but fell short 27-58.  Bornemann and Shubert lead with 6 each. Welch had 5, Green and Traub both had 3, and Schmersahl and Borrenpohl had 2.

Overall, Coach Obermeier sees much improvement in both teams.  “This is about getting better and preparing you for Varsity,” Coach Obermeier tells his players.  End the end, the score is not the focus. The focus is to improve for the future.