11/23/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - If one were to compare the ravages of war to in a basketball sense, the battles of high school basketball in the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference are very similar.

The top teams in both the Mississippi and Ohio Division of this now 33 year old conference have the scars to prove how tough it is to compete in this league.

Not only have the schools waged wars against each other, they have taken their teams to state-wide success in all sports.

In boy's basketball you can look to the trophy cases at the member schools and find the awards of the hard work from the kids and coaches over this time frame.

The league was so dominant in the first 14 years of the conference in the boy's basketball postseason that it was one of the factors that prompted a major change state-wide.

Four-class basketball came about, in part, because of the SIRR dominance.

In the 14 years, 11 times a team from the SIRR won the Carbondale Super-Sectional championships.

Smaller schools could no longer compete against the powerhouse SIRR programs in the postseason.

As for the recent history with some changes in the alignment, Benton and West Frankfort moving from the Ohio Division to the Mississippi and Carterville going from Mississippi to Ohio, the moves transformed the dynamic but the bouts are still brutal with TKO's happening.

Pinckneyville won the three way battle between themselves, Nashville and Benton a year ago in the race to the top of the Mississippi.

Coach Matt Laur, in his two seasons as head coach, has a 52-12 mark.

But missing from the resume is a regional championship, as the Panthers have dropped consecutive regional title games to state-ranked teams Breese Central and Belleville Althoff.

The Panthers and this mentor would like to add the program's total of all-time regional championships (55) this coming February.

Benton graduated ABV POY Docker Tedeschi last spring and the 6-8 senior is now at Colorado State University.

Coach Ron Winemiller will have work to do replacing him and some other key players from their sectional team last year.

The best player returning in the division will be at Nashville for his senior season for head coach Stote Reeder.

Maddox Ritzel made many lists a year ago, including ABV 2A first team all-south and Associated Press 2A second team all-state.

He could approach some records set by one of ABV's all-time favorite players to cover (Lucas O'Rear) in points and rebounds at the school.

It's been a few seasons since DuQuoin won a division title in the Mississippi.

The Indians last wore the head-dress (crown) in 2009-10 and in the next 12-seasons it was either Nashville of Pinckneyville the championship.

Carterville and Benton added championships in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Coach Coleman has good news to report. Nearly all of his players return from last season's club.

Anna-Jonesboro head coach Mike Chamness and his program are nearing a milestone of their own as they're sitting exactly 11-victories shy of 1,500, which is a pretty substantial plateau.

The Wildcats, however, are like the rest of the teams in southern Illinois as they are looking up at Pinckneyville (2,102) Nashville (1,903) and Benton (1,860) every season in total wins and conference championships.

A-J has some kids back looking to get better in the division and also the postseason.

West Frankfort has struggled mightily in this decade in a conference, as one can tell, has no weak links in it.

Coach Josh Sertich and his Redbirds are coming off of an eight-win season.

The past three campaigns added up to a 23-67 overall mark.

It will be a shock if the division title isn't hanging in either Duster Thomas Gym, Rich Herrin Gym or the Assembly Hall by season's end.

The Benton Rangers will look very different this season as 2025-26 gets rolling in November.

Coach Ron Winemiller will look around Rich Herrin Gym but he won't find one of his star athletes that he could lean on the last three seasons.

Docker Tedeschi has taken his game, his awards and records to Colorado State University and the void he leaves behind is a large gap to try and fill.

Tedeschi was a two-time first team all-state selection with the AP and the ABV 2A Deep South “Player of the Year” among the many accolades the 6-8 forward received.

Four other senior classmates also took a spring cap and gown hike and left job opportunities for the upcoming season.

Kyle Thomas, Jackson Zettler, Grant Owens and Treyson Severin are gone from the 28-5 team that won a regional but lost to Breese Central in the semifinals of the 2A Carterville Sectional.

The last three season with those seniors involved added up to an 83-18 overall mark, including a school-record 33-wins in 2023-24 when the Rangers finished second in 2A.

One starter from a season ago and a couple of important bench players return for Coach Winemiller to work with.

Nolan Schafer, a 6-5 senior guard/forward, was a huge part of last season's run.

Six-two junior Jaxon Wiggs was Coach Winemiller's first Ranger off of the bench last winter.

Drake Porter, a 6-foot sophomore, also played significant varsity minutes as a freshman.

Seven players who will be seniors this season spent most of their time last winter playing junior varsity and they will have chances to move up to varsity minutes in preseason practice.

Five-ten senior Dane Krueger, 5-9 senior Jake Van Horn, 6-1 senior Lane Croslin, 6-foot senior Ethan McCommons, 5-9 senior Clay Gage, 6-1 senior TJ Hamilton and 6-2 senior Kaleb Dawson will be in the hunt for playing time.

Five-ten sophomore Holden Skibo is also on Coach Winemiller's list.

The schedule is a bit different this season as the Rangers have shifted away from the Pinckneyville Holiday Tournament to the Columbia/Freeburg Holiday Tournament.

“This will be an interesting year for us this year. We return one starter in Nolan Schafer but he is a good place to start as he was all-SIRR last year. Wiggs was our sixth man all of last year and played some big minutes in some big games. Drake Porter played some for us off the bench last year in the postseason and we expect a big jump from him. We have a lot of seniors so it is going to take us some time to play our way into our roles and settle on a rotation,” said Coach Winemiller, who is now the second longest tenured coach in the Rangers' storied history and has 323-victories in 16-seasons.

At Nashville, the Hornets are coming in off of a 22-10 season, the third year of the tenure of head coach Stote Reeder.

Coach Reeder, who came to the program after a long stint at Jerseyville, is now 61-36 at Nashville.

Last February the season ended with a heart-wrenching 38-36 loss to Breese Central in the semifinals at the Carlyle Regional.

The Cougars moved on to a regional title and sectional championship game and the Hornets hung it up and said so long to some seniors who were important and will be missed.

Guards Ty Schoenherr, Ethan Pinski, Brance Luessenheide, Isaac Blazier and Will Dieterich followed forwards Griffin Briles and Parker Schoenberg out the door in the spring.

They leave empty uniforms for the next group to fit into.

But the best news out of this Washington County club is that the top player returns.

First team ABV 2A selection and second team 2A Associated Press all-stater Maddox Ritzel has more work to do for this program.

The 6-3 multi position (guard/forward) senior leader is back.

His 20.7 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per outing were impressive last season considering that the stats came against a strong schedule of contests.

Ritzel also averaged about two assists a game.

The senior standout is sitting at 1,381 career points and 580 career rebounds.

Only one other player in Nashville history has over 2K in points and that is two-time ABV “POY” Lucas O'Rear who played for head coach Darin Lee between 2003-04 to 2006-07.

Tyse Reinburg is a 5-11 senior guard who also started some games a year ago.

Ritzel and Reinburg will have a new list of teammates this winter to work with as the Hornets are searching for their first regional championship since they won the 2A state championship back in 2021-22.

Coach Reeder will turn to some kids who got into enough action last winter to earn letters.

Six-foot senior Max Reeder should step forward and assume one of the backcourt slots for the Hornets.

Blake Brooks, a 5-10 senior, will likely have the job of floor general added to his list of duties.

Six-two senior forward Gavin Birkner rounds out some seniors who have waited for their turn.

The junior class will add depth and important minutes.

Six-foot junior guard Kassidy Linkey, 5-11 junior guard Gannon Turner, 6-2 junior guard Palmer Renken and 6-4 junior center Sam Blumhorst are part of what looks like another solid roster of players for Nashville.

It is little doubt that there are underclassmen who will get a look in the preseason.

Sophomore guard 5-11 Brenton Bultman, 6-3 sophomore forward Cole Stiegman and 6-3 sophomore forward Grady Varel are on the list.

“The Hornets are small, but skilled and fast. I'm expecting a lot of depth and great shooting around Maddox Ritzel. We will, of course, rely heavily on him but we think we will have a lot of options on offense. Reinburg, Reeder and Brooks are three senior guards that should be big contributors. Our junior class is very talented with Gannon, Kass, Palmer and Sam all getting some varsity minutes last year. And our sophomores are very good. We also have a freshman contributing to our football team this year and that could spill into basketball. Our kids worked as hard as anyone this summer and with hard work comes big expectations.

The Pinckneyville Panthers' program is like any other powerhouse program; top to bottom the coaches know how to get the kids ready.

Graduation takes away talent each season but the kids from down the ladder prove year-after-year that they are ready to climb up.

Case in point, the 2024-25 Panthers' club had six seniors on their squad and three of them are now playing college basketball.

AJ Keith, Riley Bauersachs and Brady Conway have moved on with Keith and Bauersachs suiting up at Rend Lake College and Conway doing the same at Greenville University.

Lucas Lietz, a fourth starter for the Panthers last winter, is playing soccer at Quincy University.

Those four were the foundation of the Panthers 28-4 club that went on a run in the second half of the season (16-1) which included a first round regional playoff win over Red Bud.

The season, and the prep career's of the seniors mentioned, ended with a screeching halt with a beat-down handed out by eventual 2A second place team Belleville Althoff, 74-56 at the Chester Regional title game.

Coach Matt Laur's 2025-26 team will be built around the lone returning starter, 6-8 senior Ty Laur.

Laur is attracting college attention, as he should.

The coaches' son averaged 13.2 points a game and 5.8 rebounds as a junior starter.

The big man also could share the rock, handing out 3.5 assists per game.

The rest of the starters will come from some letter winners and new ones who, as per usual at this program, will enter the competition ready.

Coach Laur will turn to 6-6 junior Tyler McConnell for help.

McConnell was an important contributor off of the Panthers' pine as a sophomore.

He will add size and athleticism to the lineup as he showcased his talent as a receiver on the football team in the fall.

Two 6-1 senior guards; Kolton Smith and Reed Marlow, return off of stints on the junior varsity with some varsity minutes a year ago.

Marlow was the football team's QB in the fall.

Six-foot senior Miles Doerflein is another wanting to move up for Coach Laur.

Ace Carter, which is a very cool name, is a 5-10 junior who will also get a shot at some playing time.

There will be other suitors for PT.

Six-foot sophomore Carson Meagher is on the Laur radar as is 5-11 junior Blake Brodbeck.

Senior 5-9 Christian Davis, 6-1 junior Rylee Pestka, 5-11 Andrew Lietz and 6-foot Ty Kreid could all have their names called to action, especially early in the campaign as Coach Laur wants a fast paced, defensive pressure style game.

"We lost four starters from last year's successful teams and all four are playing at the next level,” said Coach Laur, who enters his third season at Pinckneyville. “We will rely heavily this year on our senior leadership, with five seniors who will all have opportunities to play for us. We will look to play inside out with two good bigs in Laur and McConnell. We also have several good shooters in Smith, Marlow, Carter, Brodbeck, Meagher and Kreid. We will still be able to pressure the ball in the full court on defense as well with help from Doerflein, Lietz and Pestka.”

Anna-Jonesboro head coach Mike Chamness had a relatively young team last season and they played as such for most of 2024-25.

Young teams tend to find ways to lose and veteran teams that they play against take advantage of the situation.

A-J finished 13-17 a year ago and 4-6 in the Mississippi Division.

It was par for the course for the Wildcats as they beat DQ and WF twice each while losing both games against Benton, Pinckneyville and Nashville.

As with most young teams, a year later things can change dramatically for the better.

Coach Chamness has four starters returning who were on the job last winter.

Aidan McFadden is a 6-foot senior who will become a three-year starter when the Wildcats take the floor.

He was just short of double-digits in scoring last season and handed out 4.2 assists a game as a junior.

Anna-Jonesboro will have some size with 6-6 junior Kaleb Gore, who according to Coach Chamness, can play all over the floor.

Gore netted 12.5 points a game in 2024-25, is a three-point threat and last year was all-SIRR.

Six-foot senior guard Dawson Nicholas added nine-points and 4.8 rebounds to the Wildcats' totals as a junior.

Coach Chamness also looks for Foster Needling, a 6-3 senior, to continue improvement coming off of a junior season of 5.4 points and 5.0 rebounds a night.

The fifth starter and players off of the bench this season will come from a list of players that

Two of them are seniors; 6-foot guard Graydon Edmonds and 6-foot guard Zay Delacruz.

Five-eight junior guard Leon Patterson and 6-1 junior Reid Price will be in the running.

Three of the losses felt by A-J last winter were single-digits, meaning the Wildcats were in a bunch of games that ended up being defeats.

Coach Chamness is optimistic that those type games can become wins in 2025-26.

“We bring back a lot of experience from last year. Last year kind of felt like we were playing our JV team against other varsity teams in the River-to-River. Hopefully that'll pay off for us this year,” said Coach Chamness, a former ABV 2A “Coach of the Year” from 2017-18. “We had a really good summer and our guys really enjoy playing the game. We have a good mix of older guys and younger guys. We have some sophomores who could play some as the season goes. Looking forward to getting started and see how good we can be by February.”

Coach Coleman Fitch will head back to the sidelines this season with some important players from last winter ready to get to work for 2025-26.

The DuQuoin Indians mentor lost four seniors from last season but everything points to a group coming up that the coaches can work with.

After a 13-17, 1-9 finish, the new ones will look to improve on both of those marks.

Dedrick Melvin, Layne Pyron, Aiden Adams, and Connor Brayfield are missing.

The returning group, according to Coach Fitch, have shown that they're ready for a better season.

Senior guards 5-11 Jeremiah Jones and 5-10 Amir Grant jumped off the page for DQ.

They were the first ones listed and the backcourt is always important.

Jones could end up with 1,500 career points.

Johnathan Brown, a 6-foot senior forward, 6-foot senior forward JJ VanZandt, 5-11 senior Hunter Martin and 6-1 sophomore and Layton Hawkins all have experience coming into the campaign.

Coach Fitch added Andrew Jones, a 5-10 junior, and 5-9 junior Bryson McClanahan as more help.

“We had a productive and fun summer, and we’re hoping to see that translate to a better season for us,” said Coach Fitch. “We're led by our guard duo of Jones and Grant. They are hungry and eager to see this team succeed. Hawkins played a bunch as a freshman and his sophomore season could be his coming-out year.”

Coach Josh Sertich has a pair of seniors who return after starting for West Frankfort as juniors.

While the season didn't go well for the crew, the ones returning could end up being improved over last season's last place finish.

One of the best athletes in the school graduated from West Frankfort last spring and he and four classmates will need replacing.

Travion Johnson was an exceptional multi-sport athlete for the Redbirds in his career.

Eli Tyson, Evan Goforth, Jack Herrell and Noah Cornaglia were in uniform last winter an experienced very few highlights.

One of the low points was a 68-55 championship game loss to 1A Crab Orchard at home in their Mid-Winter Tournament.

The second half of the season produced just a pair of wins and a quick departure from the regional tournament courtesy of Carmi-White County.

However this is a new season with a chance to make things better top-to-bottom for a program that hasn't had much to crow about recently.

Consecutive 20-loss seasons (20, 23) is what happens when you compete in a tough league like the Mississippi.

Coach Sertich is looking for big things from two returning full-time starters and one who started the final seven games last season.

Quentin Osburn, a 6-3 senior, put together a pretty solid junior season with 14 points a game to go with 5.8 rebounds.

Six-foot senior Will Scales also brought some positives to the squad a year ago.

Chris Samples, a 5-10 junior, moved up into the starting line up late in his sophomore season.

Senior forward 6-1 Cannon Cass will vie for a starting spot for West Frankfort.

Three juniors; twin 6-foot guards Parker and Payton Allen and 6-4 junior forward Nick Hefner.

Six-four sophomore forward Camden Woolard is also on the roster with openings in the lineup available.

“Osburn was an all-conference player last year who has developed into a very good player the last few years. He looked good this summer and has a chance to have quality season for us,” said Coach Sertich. “Woolard moved up to the varsity at the end of the season and did a nice job. Camden has a lot of potential and is always in the gym working on his game, so it will be interesting to see how he continues to develop this year. Samples did a nice job for us last year as a sophomore. He handles the ball well, is very good passer, and is turning into a quality defender. Parker and Payton can make shots for us. Hefner is a big, athletic kid with a high upside and Cass will also see playing time for us.”

The Ohio Division has a bunch of talented teams, and like the Mississippi, has a wealth of quality coaches.

Last season the Herrin Tigers added another division championship, their second in three seasons, for head coach Sayler Shurtz.

Herrin drops down to 2A this season for the first time in a long while, which puts this coach and program in the 'day late and a dollar short' list on its timing.

Considering the quality of players Herrin had in the past four seasons, it's kind of a shame that they had to play in the 3A state tournament.

Unfortunately the best player for Coach Shurtz left after graduation a season ago (Kyrese Lukens) and six of his classmates.

Sort of like the John Lennon song, at Herrin it will be just like 'Starting Over'.

Murphysboro and long-time mentor Daryl Murphy had the shortest stay of the state finals out of the top-seeds last season Down South in 2A, losing its opening game to Massac County at the Anna-Jonesboro 2A Regional.

The Red Devils lost three seniors to graduation but will reload as they always do.

Coach Joe Hosman and his Massac County Patriots had their streak of three-consecutive regional championships broken in the title game at A-J to Vienna last season.

Hosman sits at 863-victories at both Massac County and Eldorado which puts him fourth all-time in IHSA history.

Massac will be missing six seniors from a year ago.

Harrisburg head coach Andy Fehrenbacher, after two sub .500 marks in his first two seasons leading the Bulldogs, got his club up to an 18-12 mark in 2024-25.

Seven seniors were part of the graduation procession in the spring and must be replaced.

Carterville head coach Shane Hawkins lost four main seniors but a bunch returns for the Lions to make a move towards the league championship.

The Ohio Division looks a bit more intriguing with any of the five worthy of a title shot.

Starting with the first preseason practice, head coach Shane Hawkins will need to fill six uniforms with new players after four graduations and a pair of transfers will be missing from the Carterville Lions' club that nearly sent Benton home in the regional championship game at Hamilton County.

Carterville lost 56-49 to the Rangers but prior to that loss, the Lions had won eight-games in succession, the final seven regular season contests and a regional triumph over Hamilton County.

The four seniors, three who started and one who was injured and missed all but one game in 2024-25, are no longer with the program.

Six-four senior Parker Poole, 6-foot senior Alex Kimbrough and 5-11 Logan Ingle took about 15 points from the offense per game to the exit.

Drew Barrington re-injured himself in the first game and missed the whole season with an ACL tear.

Two others; Kaden Wilson an Jadan Wilson, transferred back to Mt. Vernon.

All added up that is a bunch of minutes from the Lions' squad that ended up 18-13, 4-4 in the Ohio Division.

Of the 13 losses a year ago, 12 of them were to teams with winning records and 11 were to programs that notched at least 20-victories.

All added up the schedule was one of the toughest in the Deep South.

As for the returning players, the one with the most experience is a returning senior guard Colton Hawkins.

The 6-4 team leader averaged 12.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and garnered some impressive awards.

All-SIRR, ABV 2A first team all-south, IBCA third team all-state and honorable mention AP all-state.

Better things will come along this season for Hawkins, the coaches' son and team leader.

Five-nine junior Maddox Gulley returns after being important off of the bench as a sophomore, adding 4.6 points a game.

Six-six classmate forward Amareon Adams moves up from the junior varsity to where the big boys play.

He appears to be suited for the varsity waters and will be important for the Lions.

After that not a lot of experience returns but you can bet this mentor will get the most out of them.

Harper Lustenberger, a 6-2 sophomore, has worked to get better and should pick up one of the starting spots.

Five-ten sophomore Max Lustenberger is also in the running.

Zach Snow, a 6-1 junior guard, 5-10 junior guard Johnny Miller, 6-foot junior forward Dante Wilson and 5-10 sophomore guard Anson Anderson will battle it out for the other minutes.

Coach Hawkins is hoping for a healthy season after what happened with Barrington last year.

“We don't have a lot of experience and we will play several sophomores,” said Coach Hawkins. “We will have to find a couple of guys that score consistently. This will be a team that will continue to improve as the season goes on, but could be a roller coaster early.”

That is true when it comes to changing coaches at the high school level as different styles and philosophies don't really overlap well.

At Harrisburg when head coach Andy Fehrenbacher took over the program three seasons ago (2022-23) the first two years were a struggle with players who were used to doing things a different way trying to adapt.

It wasn't a smooth transition to say the least as the first two editions of “Andy Ball” produced 11-18 and 14-19 finishes.

But last season the kids in the program began to gel and the Bulldogs managed an 18-12 mark, and 3-5 in the Ohio Division.

There were some special moments with winning the Carmi-White County Invitational Tournament and finishing third at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

The worst part of the season came at the end with four straight losses, three in the regular season and then a tough to swallow 45-44 regional semifinal defeat to Vienna at Anna-Jonesboro.

Many of the important players from a season ago have graduated, including top scorer and ABV 2A first team all-south Jalon Ellis.

Seven is the number of missing seniors from 2024-25.

Cayden Young, Chandler Questelle, Reed Rider, Adrian Mann, Owen Rann and Dalton Brimm were the other six.

A couple of senior for this season are whom Coach Fehrenbacher will turn to as starters for the Bulldogs in 2025-26.

Brenden Davis, a 6-3 senior forward, returns for Harrisburg as will Braxton Murphy, a 6-1 junior guard.

Both Davis and Murphy were key parts of last seasons' lineup.

Coach Fehrenbacher will have 6-5 senior forward Gage Thomas back.

In the backcourt look for Quest Weatherington, a 6-foot sophomore.

Six-one senior guard Grayson Stafford, transferred back to Harrisburg from nearby Eldorado.

Another transfer with varsity experience is 6-2 junior Kamarion Ward, who comes in from Carrier Mills-Stonefort.

Five-ten junior guard Aidan Hankins and 6-4 senior Braxton Welge will also be involved.

“Graduation hit us rather hard this past year as we lost all five starters and two off the bench that were seniors last year. So obviously, we will have a different look this year. That being said, we have three guys returning that got significant playing time at the varsity level in the second half of the season last year. We also got a transfer that moved back to Harrisburg that will help us significantly as he has been a varsity starter the past two years at his previous school. Then there are four or five other newcomers to the varsity level that will provide us with plenty of depth. Our JV had a very successful season last year and they are a competitive bunch. I am excited to see what the future will hold for this team this season,” said Coach Fehrenbacher, who is 315-175 in 17-seasons coaching at Teutopolis, Salem and Harrisburg.

There isn't much else that needs to be said about the job that Coach Daryl Murphy has done since his arrival at Murphysboro.

His 29-years as head coach produced 582 victories and 10 regional championship.

Four of his regional titles were back before four-class basketball watered things down in the large school Class AA tournaments.

The most recent regional championship from 2021-22 ended up in a narrow loss to Nashville at the Carterville Sectional.

The Hornets went on to a state championship victory.

The Red Devils were victims of some Coach Joe Hosman magic last February in the regional semifinals at Anna-Jonesboro.

Murphysboro fell to Massac County, 59-52 to bow out of the season at 23-6 and 6-2 in the Ohio Division of the SIRR.

Murphysboro picked up some hardware last winter, including the championship of the DuQuoin Tip-Off Classic, a third place finish at the Duster Thomas Hoops' Classic and second place at the Sparta Mid-Winter Classic.

However Coach Murphy lost three key senior grads in the spring (AJ Boese, Cade Brooks, Amartez Bankhead) and will count on some good ones coming up.

Two kids with starting experience from a year ago will be hugely important for this season.

Kemmeon Hale, a 6-7 senior power forward, is a big presence in the lane for the Red Devils.

He produced 11 points and eight rebounds a contest as a junior.

Myles Guthman, a 6-4 senior guard, added eight points and four rebounds to the totals.

The important part of the early part of the season will be the ones who must now fill the roles left behind.

Six-two junior guard Cash Brooks was “money” off the bench last winter for Murphysboro while DaeJohn Beard also provided some rest to the starters in 2024-25.

The rest of the newcomers will be moving up from the JV.

Michael Bradfield, a 5-10 junior, was part of the junior varsity as a sophomore.

The same can be said for 5-5 junior Jeremiah Vaughn and 5-6 sophomore Nasir Moore.

Coach Murphy could dig deeper with a freshman, who made the varsity roster.

Keegan Shields, a 6-1 ninth grader, could see minutes throughout the year.

Airrion Swansey, Jr. is a transfer in from Mounds Meridian, a 5-11 junior, could end up with some important playing time.

Five-eight junior TraMarcus Hollins and 6-foot junior Aundreavion Hyte are also on the 11-man roster heading into the season for Coach Murphy.

“We will rely on the experience of Myles and Kemmeon to start the season. The returning junior varsity guys will need to take the next step and contribute valuable minutes for us,” said Coach Murphy.

It is actually quite a shame that the Herrin Tigers weren't 2A in classification in any of the past four seasons for head coach Sayler Shurtz.

This program, which was stuck as one of the smallest 3A teams in the state, had enough firepower and athletic ability to have made major runs in the 2A tournaments in that same time frame.

Herrin spent the last 13 postseasons in 3A with just one regional championship (2018-19).

The senior group last winter departed after a four-season won-loss mark of 92-28.

Kyrese Lukens was the top player in this group of seven seniors that represented nearly every stat on both offense and defense from a club that was 24-8, 7-1.

Lukens, a four-year starting guard, scored 17.9 points a game and dished out 3.1 assists.

Grady Cox and Jared Staple, Jr. averaged 11 points a game and Madox Billingsley added 9.5 per night.

Adding the numbers from Chance Estes (2.2 p.p.g.), Rajion Price (1.9 p.p.g.) and Carter McCree to the other totals missing, it's nearly all of the 57.3 points per contest that the Tigers averaged in 2024-25.

Coach Shurtz looks to a mix of inexperienced kids to take the baton this season.

Five-eight junior point guard Jamonta McKnight will step up for the Tigers.

Although undersized, Coach Shurtz believes his strength and effort will pay off this winter.

Jackson Wade, a 6-2 junior, is another of the athletic Herrin players looking for a chance this season.

Six-one junior Jaxton Faulkenberry had a bit of varsity experience from a year ago and will be one of the main offensive players.

Isaiah Bearden, a 6-6 junior forward, has an athletic upside.

Coach Shurtz will likely start a 6-3 sophomore guard/forward JJ Gwaltney.

Senior Braxton Dann, a 6-3 forward, didn't play basketball the past two seasons but is going to be one of the players to get a lot of minutes either starting or as a reserve next Monday in their opener against West Frankfort.

Harper Shoemaker, a 6-1 senior, returns for Herrin with 6-1 junior Rylan Lattuada.

Six-foot sophomores Josh Ellis and Jackson Hudson could see some time too.

“This will be a totally different type of team that I have had since I’ve been here. We will be young and inexperienced, but I like the make up of our team. With a lot of these guys playing together since they were young, I believe there is a lot of room for growth over the season. We are 2A now, but we will keep a lot of our 3A non-conference opponents. I am excited to see this team at the end of the year,” said Coach Shurtz.

Massac County head coach Joe Hosman has seen it all in his long career roaming, and sometimes storming up and down, the sidelines for the Patriots.

Although he won't be confused with Superman there in Metropolis, he has outlasted most of his contemporaries and he shows no signs of slowing down as he gets set to coach in his 400th year (joking, 40th year) as head coach at Massac after a seven season stint at Eldorado.

The totals right now sit at 863-468.

That's a bunch of games to have coached in and prepared for.

He sits at number four all-time in the state of Illinois and is in range of the third spot with a good season in 2025-26.

Last winter the Patriots struggled as they didn't win a SIRR Ohio Division contest (0-8) and ended the year just 14-18.

But there were some highlights, including an upset of Murphysboro in the regional semifinals.

They beat 21-game winner Hamilton County late in the season and finished fifth in the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

Last season the graduation ceremony had five of Coach Hosman's players in it.

Jack Turner, Kris Garnett, Ethan Goines, Josh Fisher, Nate Eskridge and Grady Bormann.

But the ones coming back, and into, the program will hopefully help Massac County back into the conference title picture and maybe add to the regional championship total that is 17 for the school since its inception in in 1980-81.

Two starters return; 6-3 junior Jude Harmon and 6-1 junior Dee Carruthers.

Coach Hosman hopes that Jude and Dee can "take a sad song and make it better" in 2025-26.

They will likely, at least early in the season, be joined in the starting line up by three seniors.

Six-five Eli Brown will be a guard for Coach Hosman and likely running the show for the Patriots.

Michael Jones, a 6-3 forward, is an inside first player which will give Massac some size in the lane.

Landon Thompson is a 6-foot guard who missed last year injured but is back for his final prep season.

Look for minutes and perhaps some starts from 6-foot senior Kolton Schroeder and 6-1 senior Zach Maurer, who didn't play the past two seasons.

Both will push for some extended time.

Six-four junior Seth Etherton and a pair of incoming freshmen will have varsity gear to wear.

Walt Windhorst, a 6-1 freshman, and classmate 6-foot Caden Evans, will get a look in some games, especially in the early season tournament at Vienna.

“The team had a great summer together. Brown stepped into a point guard role well. Maurer returning after two years not playing will help. Harmon and Carruthers will bring starting experience and we will need to develop our young guys. I'm looking forward to coaching this group,” said Coach Hosman.