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Perham Boys Basketball (Season Preview)

By Craig Olson, 01/03/21, 6:15PM CST

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Dave Cresap knows a thing or two about basketball.  The veteran Head Coach, now in his 36th year at Perham High School, led his team to a perfect 28-0 record a year ago, but the season ended without being brought to a normal conclusion due to COVID 19.  The Yellowjackets were supposed to play the Fergus Falls Otters for the Section 8AA Boys Basketball Championship on the day the season was suspended, so Perham had to settle for the perfect record and a Heart O’ Lakes Conference title.

 

“It was quite a year to say the least,” said Coach Cresap.  “We had a very good season with many great games against many great teams throughout the year.  We were blessed to win many close games to keep our record intact.  Certainly a year to remember.  I thought there couldn’t be anything else like it, until THIS YEAR.”

With the 2020-2021 season in flux, coaches, players and fans were wondering if things would ever get going.  Well, practices are now underway and games begin the middle of January, and for Perham, there is much optimism with two returning starters and ten letter winners back from that undefeated team of a year ago.

Seniors Finn Diggins (Forward) and Elijah Morris (Guard) are the two returning starters.  They are joined by fellow senior letter winners Grant McMartin (Guard), Gabe Thompson (Forward), Carson Hespe (Center), Caden Schossow (Center), Gunnar Starzl (Guard) and Andrew Smith (Guard) and junior letter winners Chas Melvin (Guard) and Marcus Belka (Guard).

Juniors Connor Kostynick (Forward), Michael Schwantz (Guard), Josh Peterson (Guard), Austin Aanenson (Guard) and Levi Richter (Guard), and sophomores Soren Anderson (Forward), Micah Thompson (Guard) and Jacob Daniels (Forward) will all be looking to earn varsity minutes.

“We will be a very good defensive team this year,” said Cresap.  “We will really need to define our roles with players this year.  We have players who can do so many different things.  They need to play to their strengths.  I see us being an up-tempo type team when the opportunities are there.  We will really need to focus on rebounding on every possession.  We do have good size throughout our roster, but we really need to emphasize it this year.  It will take much more time this year to get everything going, due to COVID, but I am optimistic we could be in the hunt come playoff time.”

Cresap says Pelican Rapids, Breckenridge and DGF are the top challengers in the HOL, with Fergus Falls, Pelican Rapids, Breckenridge, DGF, Warroad and East Grand Forks all strong contenders in Section 8AA.

Assistant Coaches are Brian Schwantz, Grant Dierkhising and Brent Hanson.