Boys basketball: New look for Vaqueros

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

The style of play on the floor will look much different for the Fernley High School boys basketball team this season, but the Vaqueros are hoping it will lead to the same type of results they’ve become accustomed to.

After going undefeated in the Northern 3A for two straight years, the Vaqueros are replacing three of the five starters from last year’s roster, and will be replacing them with much different skill sets.

For the second year in a row, the Vaqueros have to replace the league MVP. Two years ago it was point guard Jett Caudle, and last year it was point guard Johnnie Williams. But this year, along with Williams, the Vaqueros have to replace Garrett Harjo, who usually drew the assignment of defending the opponent’s best player, and Anthony Winters, who meshed perfectly with the rest of the roster and whose contributions varied from game to game, depending on what the team needed.

Leading the new-look Vaqueros will be the other two members of last year’s starting lineup, juniors Sheldon Jacobson and Bryce Stephens, who will both be in their third season on varsity.

The Vaqueros held tryouts Nov. 9 and began official practices on Nov. 11, although most of the players played together during the team’s summer program.

Stephens and Jacobson made the all-league team last year, and coach Cade Knutson is counting on them to become the leaders of this year’s team.

“It’s exciting to have those two guys in their third year on varsity,” Knutson said. “They’ve been part of winning teams, and they know what it takes in practice, in film sessions and in the weight room.”

All five of last years starters were essentially guards with interchangeable skill sets, but that allowed the Vaqueros to switch all ball screens on defense and not worry about matchups.

This year, with more size particularly from junior Bodie Parsons, who moves up from JV, and Leland Ketelaar, the Vaqueros will have more of a traditional basketball look with guards, posts and wings.

“I think we’ll probably be a more physical team than the last couple years, probably not as run and gun,’ Knutson said. “Our coverages are going to be a little bit different.”

Although Nolan Berreman and Nate Adams gave the team some key minutes off the bench last season, whoever becomes the three starters along with Jacobson and Stephens will be guys who haven’t played a lot of minutes at the varsity level.

“We’re going to be youthful in terms of some of the guys playing big minutes,” Knutson said.

But while replacing their three departed starters looks like a daunting task, the Vaqueros have gone through that the past couple of seasons. Two years ago, they had to replace Carson Kingston, Josh Cartagena and Ryan Gamsby, but the Vaqueros went undefeated in league play and reached the state semifinals. Then last year they had to replace Caudle and Jake Cumming, but Williams became the best player in the league, the rest of the roster meshed perfectly, and the Vaqueros dominated the league again.

Now it’s up to Stephens and Jacobson to lead an otherwise young core.

“We’ve had a fun stretch of guys who were basketball first guys,” Knutson said. “Sheldon and Bryce are basketball first guys.”

The Vaqueros will be tested early and often this season, with an extremely strong schedule. They open the season Nov. 30 against Reno, then play in a tournament at Hug where they will play a couple of California schools, Huntington Beach and St. Bonaventure. They also play at Bishop Manogue and Spanish Springs, and later in December take a trip to face Boulder City and Virgin Valley.

“In my opinion we play the three best teams in Reno, and we’re going to play two really talented California programs,” Knutson said. “We thought we scheduled tough last year, and we did come out of nonconference better than we anticipated, but I know this schedule is really tough.”