Hood River senior Sam Fauth is one of three seniors on the Hood River Valley boys basketball team. The Eagles will field a young team this season, with just five players that have previous varsity experience.
Hood River senior Sam Fauth is one of three seniors on the Hood River Valley boys basketball team. The Eagles will field a young team this season, with just five players that have previous varsity experience.
An entirely new league and an entirely new varsity starting lineup await Hood River Valley boys basketball fans this winter.
The Eagles graduated nine seniors off of last year’s state playoff team, which finished second in the Intermountain Conference. HRV is competing in the Northwest Oregon Conference this season, the eighth under Head Coach Christopher Dirks.
HRV was 13-9 in 2021-22, the fourth season in a row that the Eagles posted a winning record. But the five players who return from that team had limited varsity minutes because of the large senior group ahead of them.
“We are not returning any starters this year,” Dirks said. “We had nine seniors last year and they got most of the minutes.”
Seniors Isaiah Poole and Sam Fauth, juniors Sawyer Clemett and Ethan Rivera, and sophomore Zak Poole contributed at times throughout the varsity season last year, Dirks said.
“We anticipate the players that did play some varsity last year along with a handful of others who were on the JV team to all play important roles,” Dirks said. “Early on I think we will have time to assess what we are going to be and start to shape our season around those areas.”
The overall turnout was good, which bodes well for the future. “We had a great turnout this year for tryouts, although there were some players who were in the program last year that decided not to play,” Dirks said. “That always happens as kids start to choose sports they want to focus on. We had about 65 players register, and 47 actually showed up for tryouts. It is always a difficult week because we would love to have a place for all players to play, but we just don’t.”
Dirks said last year the Eagles had “go-to scorers, rebounding specialists, players who contributed on defense and with team spirit. All of these positions and jobs will need to be filled this season. It is kind of an exciting situation to be in,” he said.
“We had a good preseason and solid summer leading up to this season,” Dirks added. “We feel that there are guys in the gym that know what we want to do and how it should look.”
The Northwest Oregon Conference presents challenges in itself. Defending league champion, Wilsonville, also won the 5A state championship a year ago. The Wildcats have won four of the past five state championships (COVID canceled the 2020 and 2021 playoffs).
“We are all excited to be in a league that is closer to us and has some legit contenders,” Dirks said. “In previous years we knew what to expect from different programs and players, and now we can take time to focus on ourselves as we approach a new league. We know there are going to be some really good players and teams, there is no denying that.
“With limited returning varsity experience and a new league, we are in a great spot as a program to establish who we are as a program and what we want to be. The coaches are really looking forward to getting games underway.”
Hood River opens its season Friday against Woodburn at the three-day Wilsonville Invitational. League games begin Dec. 14 at Canby.
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