PIRATES POSSESS QUICK, ATHLETIC SQUAD THIS SEASON

The Perryville boys basketball team has an interesting dilemma this season: tall guards but short post players.

In other words, of the 15 varsity members everybody is about the same height."We have a lot of kids the same size," said first-year coach Jeff Steffens. "There's a lot of quickness with them and some of them are good athletes. We have one big kid who is 6-6, other than that they're all 6-1 or 6-2."Michael Downen is the only returning starter from last year's team.

The 6-2 forward averaged about 13 points per game a year ago.

Ryan Wichern, a 6-4 senior forward; Kyle Abernathy, a 6-1 guard; and Josh Hudson, a 6-6 senior center are all probable starters.

Thomas Barber, a 6-1 junior and Colby Palisch, a 6-0 junior will compete for the last starting spot.

Other varsity members who will see playing time include senior Mike Jauesel and David Preusser; juniors Daniel Lueders, Mike Verseman, Mike Blevins, Bernie Reihn and Jeremy Roth; and sophomore Chad Ozark."We'll have a deep bench," Steffens said. "We have 14 juniors and seniors. I have good athletes and I have a lot of kids who can go in at any position. Jeremy Roth is working hard offensively and defensively and could see a lot of time. It's a well-balanced team. When I take one guy out, I won't lose too much on the floor."The toughest players to replace off last year's team will be Ryan Verseman and Joel Huering.

Huering was, according to Steffens, the "floor general"."We're looking for someone to step up and take care of that business," Steffens said.

Steffens thinks this year's team should improve upon last year's 9-15 mark."I believe we should be better than .500 this year," he said. "I think we could be one of the teams to beat in the Jefferson County Conference.

Perryville play its first game of the season Dec. 14 at Farmington in the Civic Center.