COCALICO EAGLES
COACH: Travis Wealand (7th season).
ASSISTANT COACHES: Matt Forney, Marc Lescoe, Brent Wilson.
LAST SEASON: 4-12 Section 2, 7-15 overall.
KEY PLAYERS LOST TO GRADUATION: Joey Becker (7.1 points per game, 25 3-pointers), Mitch Denlinger (6.5, 5 3-pointers; missed final 16 games with an arm injury), Christian Graybill (10.2, 9 3-pointers), Austin Landis (5.1, 26 3-pointers), Adam Marshall (5.4), Ryan Schweitzer (7.3).
KEY PLAYERS RETURNING: G Mitch Deering (Jr.), G Oliver Denlinger (Sr., 6.1, 30 3-pointers), F Lucas DiCiano (Sr.), F Zach Eberly (Jr.), F Shea Evans (Sr., 0.5), G/F Brock Grosling (Sr., 2.0), F Casey Kerschner (Jr.), G Spencer Moser (Jr., 3.0, 11 3-pointers), G/F Wes Rathman (Sr., 1.3, 2 3-pointers), F Zach Rissler (Sr.), G Mitch Shober (Jr.).
STRENGTHS: According to Coach Wealand, collective effort and willingness to learn the game and team accountability.
WEAKNESSES: Varsity experience.
QUOTABLE: Travis Wealand - “I’m most looking forward to seeing how our guys respond to the challenges that are ahead of them in Section 2 and in our crossovers against Section 1. We have a tremendous group of individuals and great kids who just like to compete. They seem to enjoy each other and have been challenging each other to get better from one day to the next. We have seen some impressive growth with them from the end of last season until now. It will be exciting to see how things shake out in Section 2.”
NOTABLE: Eagles lost some major contributors to graduation. Hey, it happens. This is high school. The good news is that there is a solid crop of kids ready to step in. Definitely keep an eye on sniper Oliver Denlinger, who earned more minutes in January and finished with a flourish, averaging 10 points with 21 3-pointers in his final nine games. He could be Cocalico’s go-to scorer as the season unfolds. … No firm starting five yet - Wealand was still tweaking things in the preseason - but there should be depth here, even though most guys in the rotation don’t have much varsity time under their belts. … Several football players on the roster, and the Eagles are coming off the Section 2 championship and a second-round District 3 trip this fall. Could be some carry over? Wealand said he really likes his team’s chemistry; a lot of familiar names here if you’re an Eagles’ athletics fan. Don’t underestimate that stuff.
REINHART SAYS: Has to be some growing pains here, based simply on the roster make-up and lack of big-game experience. But with several other Section 2 teams trying to overcome graduation losses, there’s no reason to believe Cocalico can’t be a player in this mix. Gut hunch says the Eagles will probably win some games you wouldn’t suspect. But they might also lose some games you wouldn’t suspect. Once these guys all get on the same page, Cocalico will be heard from.
JEFF REINHART: jreinhart@pnco.com
ON TWITTER: @JeffReinhartPN