With a new head coach at the helm for the second straight year, the Clifton-Clyde boys basketball team will see a lot of new faces in new spots to start the 2025-26 winter season.
The new face at the helm this year is Danen Kistner. He joins the Eagles after being the head coach of the Hartford/Neosho Rapids Jaguars, where he was the head middle school coach while being an assistant coach for the high school for four years.
Like last year, defense will be a focal point, and with the mindset of “nothing comes easy,” the approach will be to be a hard-working team and take the ever-difficult challenge of the Twin Valley League mixed with some non-conference games that the team can’t look past any opponent.
“I’ve been pretty demanding of them,” said Kistner, “They have answered that bell and raised the bar and my intensity.”
The Eagles graduated a lot of talent from last year’s team, notably Brodin and Trextin Koch, Kye Chase, Oliver Nobert and Jack Skocny, who is now on the Cloud County men’s basketball team.
Returning is senior Luke Nobert, who was a starter last year on a team that finished 17-7, in their third straight state tournament, eventually falling to South Gray, who finished in third place at state.
Key members of the team will be other names like seniors Ethan Sacco, Levi Thrasher, Gage LeClair and Landon Begnoche. “The next guy has to step up. Coach Skocny, Coach Steinbrock and Coach Blackwell did a good job developing these guys over the last few years, even though they haven’t gotten a lot of playing time... I’m excited to see what these guys can do for us.”
The senior bunch brings a lot of versatility for the Eagles, Sacco with three-point shooting, Thrasher with the physical traits and skills to be a matchup problem, and with other players like Emitt Tiemeyer and Cole Germann filling in with key minutes, the confidence is already building between coach and players.
Clifton-Clyde basketball kicks off the season on Tuesday, December 2, traveling to Republic County who went 3-16 last year, but are looking to carry the success from the best season in two decades on gridiron to the hardwood with an athletically-talented senior class in their own right.
“We’re embracing the challenge, they’re coached very well and they play really hard, it will be a good measuring stick to see what we need to get better at. We’re just going to block out the outside noise and focus on the task at hand... If the Cleveland Cavaliers were coming here to play us, yeah they’re going to be way better than us, but let’s punch the stone and play some basketball.”
The Eagles have their home opener on December 5, where they will host Sacred Heart.
