While the 20-21 school year has been quite different than past years, the same goes for basketball.  Due to COVID-19, the IHSA along with coaches and players were not sure if a basketball season was going to take place.  Luckily, numbers of cases started to decrease around the beginning of February.  Our region was given the thumbs up to play about a week before games were to begin.  The Rockets joined the Cahokia Conference this year, and those were the teams they would play this year for the short season, consisting of about thirteen to fourteen games.  Games were decided to be played on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

This year instead of having a Freshman team and a Sophomore team, there was only one Freshman and Sophomore team combined.  This season the team consisted of three freshmen and seven sophomores.  The freshmen were Bennett Krohne (#3), Shane Klasing (#4), and Rylan Nelson (#5).  Sophomores were Landen Schmersahl (#20), Dillon Teter (#24), Dusty Wilfong (#30), Grant Schleifer (#32), Andrew Savard (#40), Joseph Jansen (#44) and Jared Juenger(#50).  The Fresh/Soph Rockets were coached by Cameron Obermeier.

The Rockets hosted their first game on February 13, against the Carlyle Indians.  The Indians took the 53-44 win over the Rockets for the opening game of the season.  The Rockets were a few players short and just came up short in the end.  Landen Schmersahl led the Rockets in scoring again with 24 points, followed by Grant Schleifer with 9, Joseph Jansen had 6, Shane Klasing had 3, and Dillon Teter with 2 points.

On February 20th the Rockets traveled to Breese Central to take on the Cougars.  The Rockets came up short 62-30, with Central taking the win.  Landen Schmersahl led the Rockets in scoring with 9 points.  Dusty Wilfong followed with 8 points, Joseph Jansen and Jared Juenger both had 4, Dillon Teter had 3 points, and Shane Klasing chipped in 2.

Columbia High School visited the O’rena to battle against the Rockets on February 22nd.  The Rockets fell short to the Eagles 55-43.  Landen Schmersahl once again led the Rockets in scoring with 13 points, followed by Grant Schleifer with 10.  Dillon Teter had 7 points, Joseph Jansen and Jared Juenger each scored 4, Dusty Wilfong with 3, and Bennett Krohne chipping in 2 points.

The Rockets traveled to Freeburg High School the next day to take on the Midgets.  Once again, the Rockets came up short with a score of 48-26 Freeburg.  Dillon Teter had 12 points and led the Rockets in scoring.  Landen Schmersahl and Andrew Savard both had 5, and Joseph Jansen scored 4 points.

Next on the schedule were the Columbia Eagles once again.  The Rockets traveled to Columbia on February 25, and came up short again to the Eagles 46-35.  Dillon Teter led the Rockets with 13 points, followed by Joseph Jasen with 8.  Landen Schmersahl scored 7, Andrew Savard with 4 points, and Grant Schleifer contributed with 3 points.

Back on the road on February 27th to face the Carlyle Indians for the second time.  The Rockets came up short for a second time against the Indians with a score of 37-26.  Dillon Teter led in scoring once again with 12 points, followed by Andrew Savard with 9.  Landen Schmersahl scored 3 points and Joseph Jansen chipped in 2.

After 4 straight games on the road, the Rockets are back in the O’rena on March 1, against the Wesclin Warriors.  Wesclin hit a last-minute three to take the 49-46 win over the Rockets after a back-and-forth game.  Leading in scoring for the Rockets was Dillon Teter with 14 points, followed by Andrew Savard who had 13.  Landen Schmersahl scored 12 points, Joseph Jansen hit one 3, and Grant Schleifer and Jared Juenger both with 2 points.

On March 4, the Rockets hosted Salem High School.  With a close game all the way up to the end, the Salem Wildcats take the 44-36 win.  Dillon Teter led the Rockets with 13 points, followed by Landen Schmersahl and Joseph Jansen each with 8 apiece.  Jared Juenger had 3 points and Grant Schleifer and Andrew Savard both made 2 points.

The Rockets traveled to Wesclin High School on March 6th for their final away game, where they would pick up their first win for the season with a 49-42 victory over the Warriors.  Joseph Jansen led the Rockets in scoring for a career-high of 15 points, followed by Dillon Teter with 14.  Andrew Savard scored 9 points, Landen Schmersahl had 6, Grant Schliefer made 4, and Jared Juenger had 1 point.

After coming off a victory over Wesclin, the Rockets hosted Central High School on March 9, to start the last week of the season.  The Central Cougars came out with the win with a score of 70-34.  Andrew Savard led in scoring for the Rockets with 12 points, followed by Shane Klasing with 9.  Dillon Teter had 7 points, Landen Schmersahl with 3, Jared Juenger chipped in 2, and Grant Schleifer with 1 point.

Okawville hosted the Freeburg Midgets on March 11th in the O’rena.  The Rockets competed much better against the Midgets this go around than the first time, but Freeburg came out on top 44-37.   Joseph Jansen led for the Rockets with 12 points, followed by Dillon Teter with 9.  Landen Schmersahl scored 8 points, Andrew Savard made 6, and Grant Schleifer contributed with 2 points.

To end the season, the Rockets hosted their last game of the season in the O’rena against the Red Bud Musketeers.  The game went into overtime with a tied score of 38-38.  Red Bud came away with the win with a last-second

layup to put them up 42-41 on the Rockets.  Landen Schmersahl and Grant Schleifer both led the Rockets in scoring with 10 points each.  Dillon Teter and Andrew Savard both scored 9 points, Jared Juenger chipped in 2, and Joseph Jansen had 1 point.

The Freshman/Sophomore Rockets finished off their season with a record of 1-11, consisting of several close games.  Although it was a shortened version of their normal season along with other differences this year, like playing with masks and not as many spectators, the Rockets still displayed good sportsmanship and never gave up as always.

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