The Our Savior's basketball team's 2019-2020 season came to an abrupt end last Friday after the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The Our Savior's Eagles are incredibly disappointed, going into the State Tournament as the #1 seed, led by All-State players in Conor McCaffrey and Jace Easley, this Eagles team was the heavy favorites to win the 2020 LSA State Tournament, but now, we will never know, because the tournament is not being played.
Progress
During this historic run, where the Eagles won 16 conference games, the most in any season in program history, Our Savior's had two if its players named to the All-CIL First Team, as 8th grade guards Conor McCaffrey and Jace Easley were recognized as two of the best players in the conference. 7th grader Lucas Schmidt was named as an honorable mention but would be named to the conference's all-defensive team.
Other 8th graders, Jeremiah Perkins and Logan Allen played a bunch of key minutes for the Eagles this season, and were really able to keep the paint together on defense. 7th grader Ty Seifert saw some minutes during the regular season, but was still pretty inefficent while shooting the basketball.
The Our Savior's Eagles lineup will look different next season, as the Blue and White will lose most of it's roster and will have lots of new faces coming in.
Departures
Jace Easley, who returned to the Eagles after almost transferring out, just like Conor McCaffrey, Easley is going to Springfield High School to continue playing basketball and baseball.
Easley has been the Eagles go-to player since the 2018-2019 season. During his 2-year Our Savior's Career, Easley averaged 21.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 2.6 steals per contest.
Like Easley, Conor McCaffrey is another 8th grade guard that is going to be graduating. McCaffrey is headed out to Pleasant Plains to join the Cardinals. As an Eagle, McCaffrey averaged 18.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 10.0 assists, and 2.0 steals.
Other 8th graders, Jeremiah Perkins, Noah Oldham, Tristyn Carlove, Ian Klockenga and Logan Allen are all graduating, each one of those guys played minutes on the team last season.
The Future
The future of the Eagles does not look very bright. Lucas Schmidt next season is going to have to go from the 4th leading scorer on the 2020 team to the leading scorer in 2021. If of course their is a season played in 2021. Incoming players of notice are Carter Matteson, Lane Seifert, and A.J. Sims, all played decently on the JV team last season and are going to be pushed into heavy minutes in 2021. Ty Seifert and Jack Turnbull will both be 8th graders and are going to have to help out Schmidt.
Don't worry Eagles fans, as in the words of Jace Easley, "We would have won State this year, you can't deny us that, but that doesn't mean the team next year can't win it, and that for sure doesn't mean that the Eagles won't win state before everything is said and done."