Orioles Seek Win to Start Season...What to Expect

Orioles Seek Win to Start Season… What to expect?

For the past five years, Lennox has opened their season with a game vs Sioux Falls Christian. Lennox and Sioux Falls Christian have only played five times in the past twenty years as Christian was added on to the Lennox schedule when Luverne was dropped from the schedule. Luverne was on the Lennox schedule for the past ten years previous to adding the Chargers, however they couldn’t calculate the seed points properly for that game so they said we had to play only South Dakota teams. We also had our two games a year against a “B” class school and that was also changed in the 2010-2011 season because of the same seed point reason.

The first meeting between the two teams was on December 10^th, 2010 in Sioux Falls. The head coach was Darren Ellwein and the Orioles were led by seniors J. Neeman, K. Mechels, L. Weischedel, A. DeVries, D. Olson and Chris Kruse. The Orioles started that season very successful as they started with ten wins and two losses. One of losses was a 75-53 loss to the Chargers of Sioux Falls Christian.

Then the Orioles met the Chargers in December of 2011. This game was in Lennox and led to a 67-64 Lennox win. That season’s team had a bad start to the season besides the win over the Chargers. That led to the third meeting in December of 2012 which was in Sioux Falls. Lennox fell quite hard that game as they lost 76-42. In the fourth ever meeting between these two teams, there was a new Lennox head coach named Paul McVey. With the game back in Lennox, the Orioles dominated most the game until the twenty point fourth quarter by Sioux Falls Christian which tied the game at 52 all. Tyler Leisinger had a chance to win the game with a three pointer but it was toughly contended. In overtime, Lennox would play good defense and win 68-60.

The fifth and most recent matchup was held on December 12^th, 2014 in Sioux Falls. The Orioles started off hot by leading 19 to 15 after one. In the second, the Chargers took over and took a 37 to 28 lead. In the third, Lennox’s defense stepped up and closed the gap to five as Christian led 45 to 40. However, Sioux Falls Christian’s offense was too much in the fourth as they would win 65 to 51.

Here are some reasons why the Chargers will have a chance to win on Friday. First off, Sioux Falls Christian has seven of the fourteen players returning who played on the team that beat Lennox last year. Four of the seven returning players were starters in the Lennox vs Sioux Falls Christian game last season. Secondly, they have more height than Lennox does. The five tallest players for SFC are 6’7, 6’6, 6’6, 6’5 and 6’5. As for Lennox, our five tallest players are 6’4, 6’4, 6’3, 6’3, and 6’3. You can see that with our five tallest to their five tallest, we already lose a foot in total height. Finally, they have some pretty good experience considering that all four seniors this year, are returning starters from last year’s season.

Here are some reason why the Orioles will have a good chance to win. First off, the luck and pattern of this matchup’s history is on our side. First off the last five years for Lennox vs SFC has gone L-W-L-W-L, and so as the pattern shows us, we should be in line for a win. Plus every home team has won the game in the history of these two teams and since Lennox is hosting on Friday, the pattern points to the Orioles. Secondly, the Chargers have some good experience, however Lennox has even more experience. Lennox returns nine of its fifteen team members from last season. Four of which started against the Chargers in December of last season. Lennox also has a big senior advantage as they bring ten seniors to the court and the Chargers only have four seniors. Thirdly, Lennox’s three leading scorers from last season’s game vs the Chargers were Hinker, Oldenkamp and McEntee. All three of these players are back and playing this season. The four leading rebounders from last year’s game were Hinker, Oldenkamp, McEntee and Masen Oltmanns. Again, all of those players have returned to play their senior season.

All of the above facts about both teams could be big influences in the game on Friday, however they could also not even impact the game the slightest. But looking at all the facts above, you can quite easily see that both teams are very talented and athletic. So if I told you that two teams were about to play each other and the teams had good experience, were very talented and they both have a lot of athletic players, could you tell me that it won’t be a good game? Obviously not! So make sure to clear your schedules for December 11^th, 2015 at 8:00 so that you can come to the Nest and watch what will be a guaranteed great game.

Have a good day, and GOOOOO Orioles!

Written By:

Grant Sweeter

Resources:

Maxpreps.com