The West Sedona School boy’s basketball team hasn’t won the championship since the 2007-2008 season but has finished second place every year since. This year, the championship is their only option.

So far, the boy’s A-team is 2-1 this season after beating Beaver Creek 52-30 and Mayer 45-15 and losing to cross-valley rival Camp Verde 48-21.

“That game against Camp Verde was a tough game,” said Pedro Ortega Sr., WSS boys basketball coach, during Wednesday night’s practice. “But the boys are working hard now to get back to winning.”

Seventh-grader Michael Ortega is the leading scorer on the team averaging 14 points a game. Eighth-graders Dawson Stevenson and Dawson Barber have averaged 14 points and 6 points, respectively.

“I can see a lot of good things this season,” Pedro Ortega Sr. said. “Once we play everybody once we will know for sure, so for now we are working on our own drills. Every kid has talent on this team and each one of them are willing to work hard.”

Ortega is in his ninth year coaching the boy’s basketball team at WSS and thinks the team will make it far.

“I’m hoping for that championship,” Ortega said. “But I want it to be a good learning experience for the kids because we have a lot of older kids who will be going to high school next year. I want them to be able to take the skills and life lessons they learned here to the high school level because they are student athletes.”

The strength of the team is its offensive game, and Ortega said the boys are now

For the full story, please see the Friday, Nov. 30, issue of the Red Rock News.