Talk about testing the theory of no-rest-for-the-weary!
With most of his key varsity players not even a full week removed from achieving the ultimate football goal, Jeff Lehnus will get to see Friday night, Dec. 1, how eager they'll be to push the boys' basketball season into its final week when Bayfield tips off the 2017-18 season in a State-like atmosphere.
"Now with the state football championship trophy firmly secured, it will be great to have all the players back together to begin the journey," Lehnus said. "We have a strong core of quality players returning and we just need some time to heal up, get in basketball shape, and get a flow of the game, together, going again."
The rest of the classification would seem to agree; featuring big senior Ryan Phelps in the post, BHS received a preseason #9 ranking in the CHSAANow.com Class 3A poll (released Nov. 27). That was in spite of being upset by Delta in the State Tournament's first-round last season.
"We had a very positive showing at team camps this summer and have every reason to be excited about the opportunity to make a serious run at State this year," Lehnus said. "With official practice beginning two weeks ago, the players that could be here have been working hard to prepare, get in shape. We analyzed what we needed to individually and collectively improve upon, and now the task begins."
And in grand style at that. This weekend the top-10 Wolverines will get underway in Englewood at the 8th annual Herman Schayes Memorial Tournament hosted by #3-ranked Kent Denver. Bayfield will square off against the hosts at 7:30 p.m. Friday,
With sheer athleticism and recalled memory of Lehnus' system likely to carry the crew for at least a week, Bayfield will then battle Federal Heights Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. The BHS roster could include Dax Snooks, Keyon Prior, Turner Kennedy, Hayden Farmer, McKay Wells, Dawson Heide, Carl Heide and Cade Killough.
"We have the caliber of young men who love to compete at the highest levels and show what they can do," Lehnus said. "The task in front of us at the moment is to see how quickly we can accomplish this as we are short on practice time to prepare for immediate games against several highly-ranked teams."
BHS, which lost 61-75 to the Sun Devils and 48-69 to the Timberwolves, respectively, at last season's Memorial, finished 15-7 overall in 2016-17 after matching Alamosa's regular-season 9-1 Intermountain mark. The team won IML District Tournament with victories over Centauri and AHS, giving them eighth straight before 28-seed Delta stunned the #5 Wolverines 78-75 inside BHS Gymnasium.
"Last year was a great accomplishment despite ending in a disappointing loss," the coach said. "This (season's) strength of scheduling was intentional as it reflects our aspirations to be the best!"
"I like how our basketball skills, teamness and athleticism stack up to our competition and now the effort begins to make the progress necessary to maximize it," Lehnus added. "As always, we will strive to play 'Hard, Smart, Fun.Together!'"
CHSAANOW.COM 3A BOYS' BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL (released 11/27): 1.Sterling, 2.Arvada Faith Christian, 3.Englewood Kent Denver, 4.Loveland Resurrection Christian, 5.DSST-Stapleton, 6.Colorado Springs Christian, 7.Alamosa, 8.Parker Lutheran, 9.BAYFIELD, 10.Strasburg.
