The 2018 Eagles boys basketball team will feature a completely new set of starting varsity players, which means they may have difficultly replicating their 2nd place finish in the predominately 3A Little Hawkeye Conference this winter.

Head Coach Larry Hessing says two teams looking to prove themselves have a lot of key returning talent, while the rest of the league promises to be competitive and full of new faces.

“Oskaloosa and Norwalk, in my mind, return a lot of talent. And so I would think they’re going to be the headliners, and the rest of us are in the same boat. We have new people, we hope to be competitive and we hope to get better through playing the excellent competition we’re going to see in the Little Hawkeye Conference. I don’t know where we’re going to land, but we’re going to compete hard and see how it turns out.”

Hessing says while he won’t count the Eagles completely out of the conference race, he also understands the schedule will be very difficult, but also provides Pella Christian with chances to grow and prepare for the 2A playoffs in February.

Pella Christian starts the 2018 boys season Tuesday when they travel to Adel to take on ADM, which will be live along with the girls contest on 92.1 KRLS.

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