This week’s story includes two different interviews discussing the loss of their one and
only senior last year and how they expect the season to go after losing such a valuable player.
We are joined by Head Coach Morgan Colburn and Assistant Coach Dustin Ellenburg.

Garrett Finnicum: Hello everyone, my name is Garrett Finnicum, today we are joined
by head coach Morgan Colburn and assistant coach Dustin Ellenburg. We are getting some
insights as to how the team has progressed since last season as they only lost 1 senior last
year in Sam Ellenburg. Starting with Coach Colburn.

Coach Morgan Colburn: Yeah, so we lost a very valuable player last year, Sam
Ellenburg, and the stats don’t always talk about how much of an impact he had with just his
leadership. He consistently worked hard, never backed down from challenges, and was the
model of what you would want in a captain. So, we lost a good player last year, but one thing he
did for us is he set us up to do well this year because guys saw his leadership and how he was
encouraging. He was quick to laugh, did all the right things, so it was a big loss losing Sam, but
he set us up well with his character. Now, as for what we are bringing back, we bring back a lot
of good players, and I just feel like we understand each other better this year. We’re also
bringing in some really strong tenth graders, and I feel like there are six tenth graders that can
play high school basketball this year at the 1A varsity level. So, I think we will be much deeper,
and some of the seniors have really stepped up in their leadership. It really helps to only lose
one, but having lost Sam is really tough.

Assistant Coach Dustin Ellenburg: That’s a great question. So, Sam Ellenburg was
our only senior last year, and going into last year, the majority of our team had been together
since 3rd or 4th grade. We’ve seen groups come through Ridgefield. We had one when you
guys were coming through junior high, and sophomores, juniors, and seniors were successful.
This was back a few years ago. We could kind of see that if we could keep everyone together,
this would be the year to make that next little jump. We made a jump last year, made it to
regionals—of course, we lost in the first round—but this year, having most, or the majority, of
our players back, we have some sophomores this year that were on the junior high district
runner-up team that are talented and can play. I think with that mixture, I feel like this season
has a chance to be very successful. It’s going to be as successful as the kids want to make it. I
think with Coach Colburn leading them, they have a shot to have a great year.