Young but fierce

Green but determined is probably one of the best ways to describe the Saratoga Panthers this year. According to Head Coach Jason Williams, of the 21 student athletes which will be donning jerseys only a few have previous experience.

“We have a lot of new faces; there’s only six kids in the program that have been in the program at all before. At this point, we’re seeing what your strengths are and seeing what we need to work on,” said Williams. “These first couple of weekends are going to be really good for us and really interesting to see where we’re at. A lot of unknowns going into these first couple games.”

Despite the inexperience, Williams is confident that this young team will help continue the program, though there are some big shoes to fill. In 2020, the Saratoga Panthers took home the first State Championship in school history. Since then, Saratoga has made an appearance in Casper, securing either runner-up or consolation.

“We feel like these guys have built a pretty good program and we want to continue that tradition, that culture,” said Williams. “As far as hopes for the season, it’s just to get better and continue what we started these last few years. At the end of it, (we) just hope we’re in a good spot at regionals and hopefully go beyond regionals.”

That may very well be possible as, according to Williams, the first week or practice showed marked improvement.

“They’re working really hard and that’s all we ask for is for them to work really hard and put out effort,” said Williams. “We are pretty green, pretty new. There’s several guys that this is their first experience playing organized high school basketball.”