Basketball Madness Has Begun

Well Sofies, it has begun. Basketball season was kicked off last night with a celebration showing off the talented groups we have representing the Jackets this season.

We even got to see a taste of the future in the form of the Junior High boys' and girls' teams, both of which have a lot of kids turning out and to the trained eye, you can see that the talent pool is deep in Kingfisher.

The stars of the show were the high school squads. The girls who are fresh off of a state tournament berth last year appear ready to go further this year. Addy Matthews won the three-point contest by sinking 17 in the final round. Reagan Snider, member of the family who owns and operates the Shed which has great food, great times, great friends located at 1505 S Main in Kingfisher (try the catfish), Avery Davis, Emily Myers and others are poised to assert their dominance against their opponents this season.

The boys' team, man what else can you say about this group of young men. Just being announced drove the crowd wild. They will be heavily favored in most, if not all of their games this season and are led by a very talented group of Seniors. Jax Sternberger, Drake Friesen, Xavier Ridenour, Caden Kitchens, Jud Birdwell, Cash Slezickey, Braden Eaton, and Maddox Mecklenburg will carry the lion's share of the minutes this year but really there's not much difference between the core group's talents. They can all shoot, they can all run, they can all get in the paint and cause some issues, and they all know how to WIN.

The evening featured all teams doing drills, three-point contests, games for little ones and adults (I tried to interview the winner of the adult game, but he was deep in contract negotiations with the Celtics), but the highlight was the dunk contest.

Drake Friesen, as predicted in previous posts, was the winner. Arguably, it was his second win in as many years, but last year's title went to then senior Chase Davis. Kitch and X came out to show their stuff but obviously all three were still recovering from the scrimmage against Bethel earlier in the day.

Scrimmages will continue, being highlighted with a trip to Broken Arrow to match skills against larger schools which should prove to be challenging for the Jackets. Iron sharpens iron though, and with the way 4A is shaping up this year, the boys will need to be sharp throughout the season.

As always, stay tuned to the SofaKing for updates and information as the season unfolds. Until then, loyal Sofies, we bid adieu and farewell till we meet again.