River High School basketball senior #45 Derek Smith.

The River Pilots boys’ basketball season begins on December 3rd against Buckeye Local, a worthy adversary on the basketball court. Coach Mark Romick is optimistic his team will be ready to take on the Buckeye team.

Last year the Pilots finished the season with a 13 and 10 season. That was enough to move them into a sectional playoff position and they also made the OVAC 2-A playoffs. They lost that game. “Our seniors made up a big part of the team, we lost four seniors with graduation,” stated Romick.

Among those lost to graduation is All-Ohio guard Kabel Isaly, a 1,000 point scorer who was also the floor leader. Also gone from last season are Kaden Johnson, Finn Boers and Carson Makris both starters and dependable players.

Each year you have to come out and see how the boys have matured and improved their skills before you can start to put together a team. Last year we had an exceptional athlete in Cable Isley, who was our top score. Anytime you lose your field general, it creates a void and it takes some time to replace that person who led his team on the court.

With that thought, part of the early season is going to be seeing whose step up, and wants to be the team leader.

This year’s team is made up of three seniors, Lucas Dennis 5-10, Peyton Blue 6-2, and Derek Smith 6-5. Juniors: Kaden Hunt 5-10, Aiden Milhoan 6-1, Trail Thompson 6-2, Copper Price 5-10, Cody Simon 5-10. Sophomores: Ty Nething 6-0, Evan Longwell, Wyatt Stalder 5-11, Ayson McBride 6-2, Walker Stalder 5-11, Ashton King and Merric Miller. Freshman: Crestyn Isaly, Conner Miller, Parker Binni, Brayden Yessler and Hunter Ruble.

Derek Smith, Lucus Dennis and Payten Blue, all seniors, played varsity ball last year. Payten and Lucus started. “We will count on them early on, to carry the team because of their skill levels and time on the court,” said Coach Romick.

Coach Romick said the season will be challenging right off the bat with Buckeye Local and Barnesville. “We played a lot of teams last year that were young. Those teams have now matured and are ready to take their place in the state rankings. Frontier brings almost every kid back, Wheeling central always has a very nice strong team. They will return everybody except one kid.”

Coach Romick will be assisted this year with the coach job by Blaze Amos, Bob Crawford and Kyle Earley