On Tuesday, February 21, the boys JV basketball team faced off against the Lowell Red Arrows at home. After already beating them by 30 points the first time, the Rangers when into this without much effort. The game started off slow, but the boys showed that they were clearly the better team and came out on top, winning handily 64-42.

Following the win, the team was scheduled to have a game on Thursday, February 23, but it was canceled due to the weather. They resumed action on Tuesday, February 28, where they took on the Eagles of Grand Rapids Christian. Due to injuries and some players being pulled up, only nine Rangers suited up for the game. This didn’t matter, because the boys gave it all they had, gritting it out and finishing off conference play with a win, 54-42.

The celebrating did not last long, however, as the team turned right back around to face Caledonia on Thursday, March 2, for the last game of the season. The boys got out to a commanding lead at halftime thanks to 15 first-half points and some huge plays from sophomore Dennis Medic. The first few minutes seemed to be a continuation of the first half until Caledonia began to hit some shots. Suddenly, it seemed as if every shot that Caledonia threw up was going through the net. On the other hand, the Rangers could not get anything going. Caledonia climbed its way all the way back into the game and eventually took the lead. The Rangers could not fight back and dropped the game, losing 66-61.

Despite this heartbreaking loss to Caledonia in a game, the team feels it should have won, the boys had an incredibly successful season going 15-5 and finishing in 2nd place in the conference. In a season where the number of guys who were available to play on any given night fluctuated from fourteen all the way down to nine guys at one point, it is remarkably impressive to finish with such a high record.

After losing last year to GRC, the boys set a goal at the beginning of the season to beat the Eagles both times, and they did exactly this. Ty Ryan, a sophomore guard on the team discussed one of the biggest positives for them this year. “Accomplishing our team goal and sweeping GRC has been a huge plus.” He then added that the second time they did it with only nine players, a difficult feat for any team, no matter the opponent.

As mentioned earlier, the season had its ups and downs, with players getting injured and also sick. On top of this, freshman Matt Sexton and sophomore Brendan Cargill–two leaders on the team–were moved up to varsity near the end of the season. Through it all, the boys remained incredibly determined and showed up to practice with a great attitude every single day.

Team captain sophomore Aaron Schellenberg reflects on the season. For him, he thought the season was an overall success. “I think a big positive from the season was that our team was able to get by a lot of hardships with sickness and injury as well as players being moved up and still put up a good record and have a good season.”

It is safe to say that the JV Rangerball season was admirable and that many memories were created during the process. Head Coach Ike Tilden was incredibly grateful and said it was a joy to coach the boys.

“I really enjoyed coaching this group and am excited to see them make the jump to varsity players. My favorite part of the season was doing film sessions with the guys.”