The Varsity Boys basketball team opened their home season Nov. 19 as the nightcap for a four-game game against the Fortuna Huskys. Coach Evan Peterson was down to just seven players due to illness, so he knew they would have their work cut out for them. The crowd was about to part ways with fans of both teams, which is unusual for our sports-mad city, and set the stage for the whole night.
The Boys weathered an early hurricane, starting with a dozen to fight back, trailing 18-11 after the first quarter. For the rest of the game our team played their hearts out but overcame the size, pressure and experience of Fortuna, who I have to say were a very talented, well trained and disciplined unit, losing 83-42 .
Cooper Killion led the way by showing his shot from distance with 17, Kevin Perez with a nice three-pointer, Anthony Valla with 3, Andre Mesa with 3 and a bucket of electric Juan Calleja with an exceptional game from Kevyn Castaneda. Senior Chance Tager, delaying a previously scheduled trip, scored 14 points, caught a handful of interceptions and was a jack-of-all-trades while guiding the team as Coach Peterson’s general.
Coach Peterson said Fortuna, by far, will be the best team we’ve seen all year and we gave them a hard time, especially in the first quarter, and he was impressed with the effort put in by the team. He knows they were gassed at the end of the match by being so few. Coach Peterson is fearless in his plan for college basketball and can’t wait to get the whole team back on the court for practice. He repeated that he saw encouraging signs in the method and the product on the ground.
The Varsity Boys will skip the Clearlake tournament to prepare for league play in December with games Dec. 6 in Middletown and Dec. 13 in St. Helena before heading home for the Holiday Classic at the end of the month.