The Bellwood-Antis boys varsity basketball team is looking to rebound this year, coming off of a 7-15 campaign in 2023-24.
The team has lost a couple vital players to graduation, including Anthony Caracciolo, Chance Schreier, Conner Bardell, Cory Shanefelt, and Vincent Cacciotti. Anthony led the team points per game and was the first option offensively.
This year the team is going to turn to senior Holden Schreier to lead the charge on the offensive end. He was second on the team in scoring last season, averaging 9. points per game.
“We lost a lot of seniors from last year and only return three letterman, so the success of out season will be determined on how we can step up and fill in those rules, and I’m confident that we can,” Schreier said.
The team is also bringing back a lot of pieces from last season, including Martin Fatzinger, Collin Gibbons, Jackson Dorminy and Curtis Shedlock. None of these players are seniors. In fact, this Bellwood team is going to be one of the youngest teams in recent history with only two seniors, Holden Schreier and Hunter Simmons.
Fatzinger is the team’s top returning rebounder, behind Schreier.
Head coach Tyler Mertiff, who is in his third season as B-A’s coach, said the team was excited to get started in spite of its youth. In fact, their youth could give the Devils a hop in their step that is entertaining.
“We will be young and athletic which should provide us with an exciting style of play,” he said. “I would like to get better each game, learning from our mistakes and hopefully eliminating them by the end of the season. The guys are starting to understand what I expect and what we need to do to start having a winning season. We will need the younger players on the team to grow up fast so we can make a playoff push this season.”
The boys begin their season on Tuesday, December 3, at Hollidaysburg.
