WILLIAMS - The Williams High School Vikings boys and girls basketball teams have begun practice in preparation for this year's season beginning with a home game against Seligman Dec. 1.
The Vikes' boys squad will have seven returning players including four seniors: Guy Forbis, Jr. Esparza, Eric Leon and Raul Agular.
Head Coach Tristan Heisley said he believes the Vikes have a real chance to return to the state playoffs.
"We made it to the semis of state last year and we're hoping to end up in the same general area. We went up to 2A, so it's going to be pretty tough, but I think we have the talent to make it there. If the team has the drive, I think we can do it," said Heisley.
Division rankings will be based on the power point system. Under the system, teams earn points for both wins and losses. More points are awarded for beating larger 3A division schools than for beating a smaller 1A school. A team's record is also factored in when calculating point values. Winning against a 3A school with a poor record will not garner as many points as beating a team with a winning record.
Heisley said the Vikes will play teams from all over the region with a few of the 3A schools providing the biggest challenges of the season.
"We'll play teams like Chino Valley, Sedona. Those are 3A teams and we'll go all the way to 1A. We'll play Seligman, Grand Canyon, Ash Fork, so we're kind of all over the place, but obviously Chino and Sedona, they're going to be tough. Camp Verde, they're going to be really tough," he said.
Phillip Echeverria will coach the Lady Vikings basketball team this year. Echeverria coached the boy's team for four years in the early '90s. This will be his first year heading up the girls squad.
"I'm excited to take over for the girl's program," he said. "Coach Schulte, you know it's still kind of his team. He coached the girls for the last three or four years. To have the chance to coach these senior girls, they're an outstanding group of girls. With their leadership we're hoping to make a return to the state playoffs. The first thing we have to do is take it game by game and improve each and every day. We're working hard in practice."
Numbers are low for the girl's team with only 17 players on the roster. Four seniors return this year: Ashley Bean, Erin McNelly, Kiesha Reid and Katrina Placencia. Two juniors returned this year with the remainder of the team filled out with eight sophomores and only three freshmen.
"I was hoping we would have a few more freshmen come out but we didn't so it's going to be tough in the coming years to replace the seniors because of those low numbers," Echeverria said.
3A schools like Wickenburg, Chino Valley and Sedona will present the Lady Vikes' their biggest challenges of the season.
Even with a smaller team, Echeverria plans to push the ball up and down the court. He plans to introduce a shuffle offense with the girls looking for lay-ups and jump shots inside.
"We're going to fast break. We'll play pressure defense and put a full court press on and a half court. We'll play mostly man to man defense and pressure people into taking quick shots," said Echevarria, adding that rebounding will be key to the Lady Vike's offense.
Although the shuffle offense will be new to the girls this year, Echevarria said he is confident the girls will be able to pick it up.
"It may take a little time to get that into place. I think that once it's in there, the girls will be more than capable of executing what we need to do," he said.
Both Viking teams will take on Mayer in an away game scrimmage Friday. The first regular season game will be against Seligman Dec. 1 at home.
The Williams Holiday Tournament will be held Dec. 3-5. Ten boys and girls teams will participate.
"It will be really good competition," said Heisley.
Vikings varsity boys and girls schedule Boys varsity game time listed first.
11/20 Mayer (Scrimmage) Away 6 p.m. 4 p.m.
12/1 Seligman Home 6:30 p.m. 5 p.m.
12/3-12/5 Williams Holiday Tournament Home TBA TBA
