Don't let the grade level of Calvary Lutheran's boys basketball team fool you.
Though six of the eight players on the varsity roster are upperclassmen, they don't have a whole lot of varsity experience.
"In a lot of ways we're almost a whole new team," Calvary coach Mark Buffington said. "We had a lot of turnover and lost four really good seniors."
R.J. Mays, a senior point guard, started playing in February last year, sitting out the first half after transferring from Jefferson City. Matt Allen, the team's tallest player at 6-foot-3, was hurt and only played in a handful of games a year ago, as was fellow senior Nick Stark, who is still in a walking boot.
Jimmie Wehmeyer is the only returning player with a full season of varsity experience.
Those four, along with sophomore Josh Pritchett, are the Lions' projected starters for tonight's home game against New Bloomfield.
The future looks bright behind them. Pritchett, who didn't play any varsity last year, was perhaps the most dominant interior player in the scrimmage. His play, both facing up and back to the basket, looked like that of a veteran post player. The varsity squad beat the JV by 20 points in the first period of the Crimson and Silver scrimmage but the score was much closer after Pritchett switched over.
There is also a crew of seven freshmen on the junior varsity Buffington hopes to keep together for the year on that level, then bring in an infusion of talent once this senior-heavy team loses some graduates.
"It's a pretty new group, so they're still learning each other," Buffington said. "I've been very pleased with how well they've done with that."
Calvary finished 14-10 last season, ending in the first round of district play against Harrisburg. The team knows expectations are different for this year as the Lions compete in the CCAA.
"One of the things we want to do is compete in our conference," Buffington said. "We've got teams like Jamestown and Prairie Home, Higbee and Bunceton. So that's one of our goals, to compete in the conference. And we have our little tournament here in January, we'd like to do very well in that."
Buffington hopes the schedule this year will prepare his squad for a tough district tournament. That begins tonight against a traditionally good New Bloomfield team, one that handed the Lions an 86-66 loss in their season opener a year ago.