The Student News Site of Souderton Area High School

The Arrowhead

The Arrowhead

The Student News Site of Souderton Area High School

The Arrowhead

The Student News Site of Souderton Area High School

The Arrowhead

The Arrowhead

Despite losing season, boys basketball hopes for brighter future

The record may show a 2-14 season for the boys basketball team, but players and coaches believe these young players are just getting started. After some varsity experience this season, the team is looking forward to the improvement of everyone next year.
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**Playing like a champion…** *Team captain Evan Kutzler (center) goes up for a two point shot with the help of Junior Paul Vince (left). The team faced CB East on March 1, 2021.* *Photo by Ryan Moser*

The COVID-19 season hit the boys basketball team harder than expected, but the young team (including just two seniors) knows that there are brighter days ahead. They have taken the time this season to develop the young players into better versions of themselves, both on and off the court.
“I kind of like it a little better because we get to develop the younger class and they’ll be really good going into next year. I think that is definitely something that I have enjoyed this year,” team captain Evan Kutzler said.
The opponents Souderton had faced this past season have had a lot more experience than this team. A majority of the juniors and sophomores experienced their first varsity minutes adjusting to the quicker pace. This caused a skewed record but also provided a lot of room for improvement.
Junior Devang Bhandari understands that the team can only go up from here.
“It’s something that has to happen in order to get better. You need to lose,” Bhandari said.
Five-year head coach Tim Brown has led the team through a tough season and is still managing to keep the environment upbeat and motivated.
Although the season was “frustrating” he managed to keep the players motivated to continue “winning the day.”
“He comes to practice with a different quote and says win every day, which is a big thing that he stresses in us,” Kutzler said. “Win in everything you do on and off the court. He tells us it isn’t just about basketball, but also the life lessons that come with it.”
Kutzler was also given much praise for overcoming his adversity and determination this season, taking on the leadership role and helping the young players stay motivated through the losses.
“He’s a really loud leader who is very vocal with everyone and he makes sure everyone knows what they have to do,” Bhandari said. “Before every game he hypes everyone up and makes sure everyone is positive.”
A season high this past year was the boys first win against Pennridge High School. Souderton defeated the district team for the first time since 2014, making this game very memorable for the players.
“We haven’t beaten them at all in either of our houses and so that was a really proud moment, being able to lead them and keep us in a close game definitely,” Kutzler said.
COVID-19 season has been different for each team, during their losses, the team managed to keep their chemistry strong.
According to Brown, they had Zoom workouts during the offseason and knew they needed to work harder in order to keep close with the younger incoming varsity players.

This season has not been like others as far as team dinners go, but chemistry wasn’t really ever an issue with this team.
Senior Dylan Hollick thinks the different grades managed to become closer than they originally thought.
“I feel like we all liked each other off the court, probably even more than most teams I have been on,” Hollick said.
The team hopes for the athletes to go into next year with more confidence and experience under their belts.
“We are a really young team and we understand that this year was going to be hard,” Bhandari said, “but we’re going to keep on working hard in order for next year to be better.”

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