‘Jays fight to keep crown
Diedrich gets 1,000 career points in ‘21
By Ross Pattermann
The Athens Bluejays boys basketball team enjoyed one of the best and most memorable seasons in school history last year.
It was a season that saw the ‘Jays break a decades long drought to claim the Marawood North title for the first time since 1950. If you think they’re not looking to do it again, rest assured, they not only have the will, but the firepower.
“Yes, every year I believe we can compete for the Marawood North Conference championship,” says head coach Jeramie Penny. “Our goal is winning it back.”
Penny has been co-head coach for four years, but this will be his first as sole head coach. WIAC standout John Keefe, along with Mike Wolf, will join Penny on the sideline as assistant coaches.
Athens finished with an overall record of 18-5 and 11-3 mark in the Marwood, and they’ll have to put up similar numbers if they hope to add more numbers on the banners.
It helps that they return a wealth of experience, with seniors Cooper Diedrich, Kody Lepak and Evan Guralski starting, along with juniors Aiden Janke, Connor Sheahan, Nathan Wolf and Connor Komarek.
The ‘Jays have lost Dayne Diethelm and Cobie Ellenbecker to graduation, but Player of the Year and all-state honorable mention Cooper Diedrich, along with all conference selections Janke and Lepak give Penny a wonderful bast to start from.
“Anytime you return a Player of the Year and a first team and an honorable mention player, it helps.”
Diedrich in particular is off to a blazing start in his senior campaign, joining his sisters in scoring a thousand points in a career in a conference road game against Newman Catholic.
“It’s special for me. It’s something I was trying to do last year, but it didn’t happen. I knew it was going to be coming up early this year, and to get that out of the way was nice,” Diedrich said.
“My two sisters did it, my sister’s husband did it, so now they’re all just welcoming me into the club. Everyone’s been real supportive about it, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of teammates.”
Penny was even more appreciative of Diedrich’s accomplishment, and knew he had a special player while watching Cooper play JV.
“It’s a great accomplishment. I think I’ve seen every one of those points, even his JV points. It makes me feel good, and I’m happy for him. He’s a great basketball player and great representative for Athens Bluejays sports.”
Diedrich says it’s a relief to achieve 1,000 points so early in the season, but he’s thinking beyond personal achievements. He and his teammates want to do something no one in Athens has ever done - win back to back titles.
It’s not going to be easy, and through the first five games of the season, the ‘Jays are just 3-2, but those five games have been against very good competition, teams that also want to win conference crowns.
Athens opened its 2021-22 season with a hard fought 47-40 over Owen-Withee, a dark horse team in the Eastern Cloverbelt title race. Athens got off to a slow start, holding a 25-22 lead after one half, and the Blackhawks refused to go away.
The ‘Jays did just enough in the second half to stay out in front, outscoring their visitors 22-18. Cooper Diedrich scored 21 points to lead Athens, followed by Aiden Janke with 11 and Kody Lepak with nine.
The ‘Jays had a much easier time securing the win in their second game of the season, picking off the Prentice Buccaneers before a partisan home crowd.
Athens had to overcome a slow start, heading into the break up 24-21, but stormed out of the gates in the second half, outscoring Prentice 39-22 for the 6343 victory.
Four ‘Jays were in double digits, with Diedrich scoring 20, and Aiden Janke hauling in 18 rebounds and 15 points. Connor Sheahan added 14 points, and Lepak tallied 12.
Athens suffered its first loss of the year against the Newman Catholic Cardinals in a 77-55 road loss. The ‘Cards got on top of Athens early, taking a 38-26 lead into the locker room, and never looked back.
Diedrich scored a season high 24 points, and Janke went off for 19 points and 16 rebounds, but no other ‘Jay scored more than four points.
Athens rebounded for their third victory by knocking of Colby at home. The ‘Jays had to overcome a 7-0 deficit to do it, but succeeded in scoring a season 82 points in the 82-70 victory.
“Pretty much every game this year we’ve started out slow and had to work into the game and just keep our composure,” Diedrich said. “We worked the ball, made sure we took good shots and played good defense and got stops.”
Diedrich got 23 points, Janke had 20 and Lepak had 15. Evan Guralski was the X-factor, scoring 14 points on four of nine shooting from three. Sheahan scored 10.
Athens took its second loss to Stratford, falling 55-40 at home. Once again, a slow start spelled trouble for Athens, with the ‘Jays trailing 32-19 at halftime.
They would not recover, and dropped to 3-2 on the year. Diedrich had 15 points and Janke scored 10.
BIG MAN THROWS IT DOWN- Athens junior forward Aiden Janke powers through a pair of Colby defenders for two during the first half of a non-conference home game with Colby on Dec. 6. Janke has been averaging close to a double-double.STAFF PHOTO/ROSS PATTERMANN
THIS SEASON’S ATHENS VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL SQUAD- Pictured is the 2021-22 Athens Bluejays varsity boys basketball team. In the front row, left to right, is Evan Guralski, Cooper Diedrich, Connor Komarek and Ty Johnson. In the back row, left to right, is Aiden Janke, Kody Lepak, Connor Sheahan and Nathan Wolf.STAFF PHOTO/ROSS PATTERMANN
