Tri-County Area boys hoops teams off to good starts
It's been so far, so good for Tri-County Area prep boys basketball teams in the two short weeks the 2025-26 season has progressed.
It's been especially good for Eleva-Strum and its new head coach Luke Denniston.
The Cardinals went winless last season and carried a 29-game losing streak going into this season. Indeed, the whole decade so far has been brutal for the Central program with few wins and over 20 losses per season.
But E-S quickly broke that losing streak and then some as they won their first two games, including their opener 73-62 over Dairyland Large Conference rival Whitehall. While E-S has come back down to earth losing their next two ballgames, 63-54 last week to Lincoln and 79-70 Monday, Dec. 8 at Black River Falls, at least they were competitive contests and not blowouts. Central led BRF at halftime of their ballgame 36-30.
A pair of sophomores, Afton Flynn and Cashton Kulig have revitalized the Cardinal program, joining their efforts with veteran seniors such as Calvin Barneson and Noah Martinson and junior Bo Windjue. Kulig leads the team in scoring with 18 per contest and Flynn leads the team in rebounding averaging 10 per contest. Kulig and Martinson both scored 17 points vs. BRF and Flynn finished with 11 points and 16 rebounds. E-S looks to go back over .500 hosting Alma/Pepin tonight at 7:15 p.m.
Fall Creek is off to a 2-0 start as they prepare for their Western Cloverbelt Conference opener at home vs. Stanley-Boyd tonight. Last week the Crickets had no problems beating Whitehall 56-38 in their opener on Tuesday, Dec. 2 and Glenwood City 73-37 in the Northwest Tip-Off Classic played Saturday, Dec. 6 at UW-Stout in Menomonie. Against the Norse FC's Jackson Tangley had 16 points, 7 assists, Miles Schmidgall - 13 points, 17 rebounds and seven steals and Josh Wright had nine points. Against the Hilltoppers, Schmidgall finished with a whopping 28 points had 10 rebounds and seven blocks, dominating inside, Tangley scored 14 and had six assists and Wright had seven points.
While the Hilltoppers leading scorer Brody Olson finished with 13 points, he had to labor hard to get them and as their point guard couldn't get their offense on track thanks to the defense of senior returning letterwinner Cullen Kramer despite the fact that Kramer gave up six inches to Olson.
"Cullen is a very athletic strong young man," FC head coach Rick Storlie said. "We try to play him defensively to his strengths. He can make things difficult to opposing players. Especially if those players want to stay on the perimeter. Man to man is what we base our defenses on. Even in a zone, we base our coverages and responsibilities on man principles."
Bryson Elkins finished with six points and his two trifectas along with those from returning letterwinners Evan Seidling and Jayse Hillman show a balance in outside shooting that will be crucial for the Crickets success this season.
"We have worked hard trying to find more offensive weapons. It is a key obviously to our success or failure," Storlie said. "Being able to have players hit some of those long range shots opens things up for our inside presence with Schmidgall, Sell and Rokus. this also opens up driving ability of Tangley and others. We hope we can develop players and continue our success. Yet, the season is long and we have some very tough games ahead."
FC hopes to exceed the 18-9 overall record from last season and win the WCC title again. Also back from last season's team are Braylen Prorok, Corbin Sell, Evan Seidling, Jayse Hillman and Koen Tumm. Newcomers who Storlie will make an impact are juniors Finley Wright and Logan Gustafson and 6-5 sophomore Sawyer Rokus.
"We hope to build off of last year's success," Storlie said "Schmidgall, a 6'7 junior, anchors the team as he was a 1st team all conference selection last season as well as a WBCA All State Honorable Mention player. Tangley, 6'1 junior point guard looks to have a big season. He was named honorable mention All-WCC last season. Bench looks deeper than last season with a year's experience under their belts, we are hoping to get more production and Rokus will give the Crickets even more size on the inside. We are hoping to be a contender in the conference race. Eau Claire Regis is preseason state ranked #8 and will be a tough team again this season. Others in the conference return a number of players and the conference will be a battle. Expectations are high in Fall Creek as they always are. "
Also unbeaten so far is Osseo-Fairchild under new head coach Ryan Leis, replacing Tim Popple who retired after last season.. The Thunder, the defending Dairyland Large champion with a 20-5 record, won a make-up game last night over Melrose-Mindoro 69-60 at home to improve to 3-0, 2-0 in the Large Dairyland. Last week Thursday, Dec. 4, O-F won a non-conference contest at home over Elmwood/Plum City in a rout 71-32. While the Thunder lost Evan Insterness, Drake Swett, Tryggve Korger, Jack Steinke, Briley Durst, Devon Soll and Cole Schoette to graduation, they return All-Dairyland performer Mason Schmidt, Noah Sullivan, Drake Vojtik, Ty Hanson, Drew Paulus, Brooks Koxlien, Blaine McCune and Dayne Lyngen from last year's team. Sullivan, Schmidt, Hanson and Paulus were their top players in their season-opening win over Blair-Taylor.
Augusta walloped Gilman last night in a non-conference contest at home 69-38. This puts them close to matching their win total from last season at three. Like Eleva-Strum, the Beaver boys' program has struggles this decade and an 0-2 start, including a 70-55 loss to Owen-Withee last week Tuesday, Dec. 2 was par for the course. But the Beavers have rebounded to win two straight and are 1-1 in the DC. Last week Thursday, Dec. 4 AHS won at Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 50-31. Seniors Isac Mooney and Bryce Buttke led the way for Augusta in scoring with 19 and 11 points respectively and another returning letterwinner, junior Owen Lee put in 10 points. He also had enough steals to set the all-time school record as well. Also back are senior Tyler Lee, sophomore Jake Shong and juniors Nate Atchinson and Caleb Kolve. Augusta lost six seniors from last season. AHS will look to extend their winning streak taking on Whitehall this evening at Whitehall.
Large Dairyland Conference standings
Team Conf. Overall
Osseo-Fairchild 2-0 3-0
Whitehall 3-1 3-2
Augusta 1-1 2-2
Eleva-Strum 1-1 2-2
Melrose-Mindoro 1-2 1-3
