By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

STAYTON, Ore.–  The Regis Boys Basketball team will have a lot of offensive firepower this season.  Isaiah Koehnke, Noah Koenig and Diego Aguilar, who transferred in this school year from Jefferson anchor the offense with their speed and their shooting ability.  Defensively they’re just as fast and scrappy as they finished up their third practice of this young season. Add in some size from guys like Charlie Miller and Casey Voltin and the hope is that come season’s end, they’ll be back to where they were this past March when they finished fourth in 2A out in Pendleton.

“I’m super excited, I think it’ll be great to go wherever we want as long as we keep working hard on it,” Koehnke said.  “(Last year) was really good, it showed us what we can do this year and what we can build off of and we just want to build off of that and get better this year.  Just keep getting better and taking it day-by-day.”

“The possibilities are endless as long  as we put in the work and give our best effort.  There’s a lot of guys on this team who give a lot of effort, are very scrappy, great shooters and a great overall team,” adds Aguilar.  “”It’ll be pretty big…but we mesh well and if we just work as a team and put in the work, these next few weeks will be big.”

And with them joining the Tri-River Conference after spending the last few seasons in the Central Valley Conference, gaining momentum as they enter probably the toughest conference in 2A will be important.  Western Christian, Salem Academy and Kennedy all were in Pendleton as well  last season.  Willamina, who dropped down to 2A this year, was a playoff team in 3A last season.

The Rams open the season on November 30 against Jefferson at home before traveling to Portland Christian that Friday and finishing up at home on December 9 against East Linn Christian before entering the Capitol City Classic on December 16 at Willamette University.

Being the smallest school in the field, they got a chip on their shoulders showing that they can compete with the Sprague’s, South Salem’s and Cascade’s locally as well as some big out-of-state teams like St. John Bosco, the football power from Southern California, and Modesto Christian from the Central Valley of California.  The tournament had helped Salem Academy, who took two 5A squads in Corvallis and Crescent Valley to OT in the tournament last year, as the Crusaders went on to finish second in 2A last year.

“I’m really excited, I think we’re up to the challenge and there’s a lot of good teams in it.  It’ll be a great experience for us and it’ll be very enjoyable,” Koehnke said of the opportunity.

The Rams will follow the CCC Tournament with the Regis Holiday Tournament before heading right into league play on January 4 at Culver.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald