On the quest for a fourth state title
December 4, 2017
By NICK WACHOWIAK
The Mirror reporter
The boys basketball team for Stevens Point Area Senior High (SPASH) has won the state championships three times in a row now. Many successful athletes have been on the team during their success such as Trevor Anderson, Sam Hauser, and Joey Hauser.
With the season kicking off, the team is more determined than ever to add another state trophy to their collection. Some of the prominent players on the team include seniors Joey Hauser who has recently committed to Marquette University, Sam Simmons, Max Hofmeister, and Drew Cullen.
“I feel pretty good, I mean we’ve got a long way to go to achieve our goals in winning a state title but however we are just taking it game by game right now. We’ve got good senior leadership and it will take us a long way,” said Hofmeister.
Hauser said, “I’m very excited for the season starting, and looking forward to another great year and hopefully we’ll get a chance to head back down to the Kohl Center. There’s lots of room for improvement but if we do our best I feel we can be one of the best teams in the state.”
“I just think we have to practice a lot if we want to achieve what we want to. And we’ll just keep taking it one day at a time and hopefully, we’ll make it down to the Kohl Center. I believe in everyone on the team and they’ll do what they need to do on the court,” said Simmons.
“We have a lot of talent this year and it’s very possible we can do it again we just have to stay with our goals and work hard. Our communication could be better and just being together and moving as one. It mainly just comes down to everyone getting their chemistry down and playing their game,” said Cullen.
Scott Anderson is the head coach of the boys basketball team who leads the Panthers to victory in Madison in the last three years. “I think we’ve got a chance and opportunity to capture a fourth state title but it’s going to be a long journey. Obviously, there are a lot of good athletes coming back to lead us, but we’ve got a lot of work to do, and train the less experienced players. If we put the work in by March I think we’ll have a chance,” said Anderson.
The next basketball game will be on Tuesday, December 12 against Marshfield in the SPASH fieldhouse at 7:45. The rest of the team’s schedule can be found on centralwisconsinsports.net.
Paige Schultz • Dec 14, 2017 at 12:11 PM
I found this article really interesting. It shows the presence of the seniors on the basketball team and their thoughts on the upcoming season. Being present at all 3 state championships in the past, I hope and feel that the team is perfectly capable of capturing their 4th title in a row. Overall, I really liked the background and quotes from the players that you used in this article.
James • Dec 14, 2017 at 11:13 AM
Great article Nick. It was very interesting to get an inside view on what’s happening this year!
Deryk Wedde • Dec 14, 2017 at 11:09 AM
I can only hope that they will be able to make it back to Madison for number 4. Sadly, I’ve seen Joey walking around with a boot and hope it doesn’t affect his season for too long. I have full faith in Coach Anderson to lead them ahead.
Elijah Raflik • Dec 14, 2017 at 11:09 AM
I have a lot of faith in our team this year. I have always enjoyed going down to see SPASH perform in the state championship in Madison. Hopefully, I get to see it for a third year in a row.