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Coach: Eric Sweet, first year.
Record: 0-0.
Last year: 3-18 (0-14 SBC).
Key players: Mark Edwards, 6-3, Sr., W; A.J. Cecil, 6-0, Jr., G/W; Greg Haar, 6-0, Jr., PG;
Austin Weigand, 6-1, Jr., W; Phil Bryant, 6-0, Sr., P; Turner Webb, 5-10, Sr., PG;
Sam Laderach, 6-4, Jr., P; Trent Lacer, 6-3, Sr., P; Jake Hetrick, 5-8, Sr., W;
Kaleb Maguire, 6-1, Jr., W; Nate Segard, 6-0 Jr., P; Nick Thorbahn, 5-9, Sr., W.
Forecast: After graduating eight seniors off last year's team, first-year coach Eric Sweet is
basically starting from scratch.
“This is a great group of kids that works really hard,” Sweet said. “We are old when it comes
to years, but we are young with varsity playing minutes. The more we get to play, the better
we will become.”
The media that covers the Sandusky Bay Conference picked the Rockets, who return four
lettermen, to finish eighth in the SBC this season. Sweet's fellow coaches picked them seventh.
“We are excited about coming out and working hard and getting better,” Sweet said. “We
know we can do good things in this league, but we also know that is going to be a long road
that will take work, effort, time and a true team effort. We talk about details every chance
we get.”
Weigand played the most minutes last year of any returning player. Haar, Cecil and Edwards
also earned letters.
“We will look for Greg to run the show and be our floor leader,” Sweet said. “He is going to
have to hit shots and not have a lot of turnovers. Cecil is an athletic player who can do a lot
of good things for us. Weigand is our emotional leader and can do it all. He is our defensive
stopper and he's going to lead us in deflections, charges and the small things that need to get
done for a team to be good.
“Edwards is going to be the slasher on the team,” the coach added. “He is quick and athletic
and we'll look for him to score running the court and getting rebounds. He is quick and long
and will help on both ends of the court.”
At 6-4, Laderach is Oak Harbor's tallest player and will be looked upon to score in the paint.
Webb will also play the point and is a great leader, according to Sweet. Bryant will be asked
to help the team with hustle plays and defense, and Lacer will be expected to play defense
and rebound in the post.
“Coming off a three-win season, we have not talked about wins and losses,” Sweet said. “We
talk about the small details that we can control and work on. We know if we can do the small
things great, it will give us a chance to win games. We want to get better each day we're in
the gym.”
Coach: Brad Hemminger, second year.
Career: 11-10.
Last year: 11-10 (7-7 SBC).
Key players: Allison Dunn, 5-10, Sr., PG/W; Maria Boers, 5-8, Jr., W; Abbie Gezo, 5-9, Jr., P;
Makayla Carpenter, 5-4, Jr., PG; Amanda Hetrick, 5-5, So., G.
Forecast: After getting off to a 1-6 start last season, the young Rockets started putting
things together under first-year coach Brad Hemminger.
Dunn played the last five games with a torn ACL yet still led Oak Harbor in scoring at
12.5 points a game. She also added 6.5 rebounds. Boers averaged 8.5 points and 2.5
steals a game, while Gezo and Carpenter averaged 3.5 and 3.0 points a game,
respectively.
“Allison was unable to play this summer, but she is getting back to her old form,”
Hemminger said. “We expect another good year from her. Maria, Makayla and Amanda
were thrown in to the fire at guard last year, with little varsity experience, and they
struggled at the start of the season. But as they got better, our team got better.
“By the end of the year, all three were playing really solid basketball. We expect them
to pick up where they left off and continue to improve their play.”
Gezo, who as a sophomore backed up the Rockets' two senior post players, had a
very good offseason playing AAU and summer team ball, according to Hemminger.
“She has made great improvement,” the coach said, “and we expect her to anchor
the middle.”
The Rockets graduated their two tallest players, Kayla Diefenthaler and Caitlyn
Harvey. Diefenthaler was named second-team All-Sandusky Bay Conference after averaging
12 points and six rebounds, and Harvey averaged five points and 4.5 rebounds.
Not many people are expecting the Rockets to catch fire and challenge for an SBC title this
year, but last year's team turned some heads toward the end of the season. Oak Harbor
hasn't won an SBC title in five years.
“We were picked to finish seventh last year and we finished fourth,” Hemminger said.
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