Alexandra Jaffe, Nederland. Despite recent COVID restrictions, players on the Nederland High school boys basketball team have found ways to practice and play the sport they love in safer ways. 

The team roster this year is: Freshmen - Rick Fortunato, Kiryu Sugishita, Gavin Dillon, AJ Merz, Michael Garduro. Sophomores - Max Godsil, Mason Lupe. Juniors - Charlie Rawlins, Logan Delong, Kyler Rabourn. The coach for the Nederland High School Boys Basketball team is Nic Stader. 

The team played their first game against Front Range Christian (FRC), only 10 days after their first practice on January 18, 2021. The team played hard but lost 18-25. 

Three days after the game against FRC the game against Union Colony was canceled. On February 8, 2021, the boys’ team played against Clear Creek High School and lost 21-57. On February 9, 2021, the team played Denver Christian and lost 10-48. 

Freshman Gavin Dillon says, “It’s been a really weird year especially for basketball and I’m glad we even got to have a season. These first couple games haven’t exactly been going the way we wanted, but with a group of guys like this I think it’s going to be really easy to rally back into this season. Coach Nic Stader has been a great influence on the team’s chemistry and almost all the guys are on the same page. We lost two really tall seniors last year and now our team is younger and smaller. Coach has prioritized defense as a way to beat these bigger teams and we get better every single game. I would say the biggest strength we have is driving to the basket, although we haven’t done much of it this season, every time we do we get results. I love this sport and I’m super grateful I get to play on a team like this.”

The team will play their next game on February 16, 2021, against Dawson High. 

Play hard Panthers, and stay safe.

(Originally published in the February 18, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)