By NICHOLAS KIMBALL

Staff writer

Letter winners Caleb Burkholder and Noah Schrag return this year for Goessel’s boys basketball team along with coach Curtis Guhr, entering his 12th season.

“We will be looking to younger guys to step up this season after losing eight seniors to graduation and losing other letter winners to injury,” Guhr said.

“Offensively, we lost a good portion of our scoring from last season, so we will be looking to others to step up and fill those roles.”

Goessel finished last season 15-7 and 6-3 in the Wheat State League. The Bluebirds last state tournament appearance was in 2009, when they finished fourth. Their last championship was in 1988.

“We have a good group of guys that I feel are ready to accept the challenge,” Guhr said.

“With size being an issue, we will look to our speed to help make up for the loss of height from graduation.”

“With decent numbers, we look forward to competitiveness in practice. Finding the right people to fit into roles will be important to how successful this year can be. We look to build off last year’s success and continue to build our program.”

Goessel open its season Friday at home against Marion.