As the weather begins to get colder, winter sports start to make their comeback. After having months of rest, the boy’s basketball team is ready to face the 2024-2025 season head-on. They had multiple open gym practices and conditioned thoroughly to prepare themselves for the upcoming season. The moment all basketball fans have been waiting for has finally arrived.
The team starts off their season with two scrimmages, and then they move on to the regular season. The boys play a total of 20 games, which consist of eight home games and 12 away games, starting in November and concluding by February. The boy’s first home conference game will take place on Dec. 9 against Union.
“I am excited to see what we can do as a team, and I can’t wait to see what the season holds,” Mason O’Donnell (10) said.
Since last season, the boys have lost three strong seniors and have become an underclassmen-heavy team. Despite the team losing great players, the underclassmen have worked very hard over the past couple of months to physically and mentally prepare themselves for the season. This year, only four seniors play basketball, making the remainder of the team freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Although the team is quite young, that does not belittle their determination and love for the game.
Freedom has also hired a new coach for the Varsity position, Casey Kaiser. Kaiser was previously the boy’s basketball coach for Beaver High School and had a very successful coaching career with the Beaver’s boys basketball team. He led the Bobcats to multiple victories over the past few years. In Beaver’s previous season, they were 12-11. Their stats for conference games were 8-4.
“The new coach knows how to work and push everyone to the next level, which makes everyone better every day,” Jordan Delon (12) said. “This season is going to have a better turnout than the past years”.
Last year, the boys finished the season with a 3-19 overall record. The Bulldog’s stats for conference games were 2-10. Freedom beat New Brighton twice and Cornell once. The boys will face New Brighton again two times this year. Keeping the school rivalry strong, the Bulldogs plan on achieving a better record than last year. This year, the boys will face multiple different schools to compete in the upcoming WPIAL.
“I hope to have a great season, and I am very excited to see how everything goes,” Adam Rhoades (12) said.