QUINCY (WGEM) – The goal is crystal clear for the West Hancock Titan basketball team. They want a trip to state this spring, and it all starts with playing top-notch competition to start the season.

“Oh, it’s going to help us for sure,” said head coach Jeff Dahl. “It makes you need to fix things, and as a coach that is what you want. We get to see what we need to fix so it’s going to help us.”

The Titans have plenty of athletes all over their roster, and for star big Cooper Knowles, he loves seeing who is going to make the next crazy play.

“It’s definitely fun,” said Knowles. “The other day Hunter Froman got his first dunk in a game. I don’t think anyone expected that but its a lot of fun seeing what kind of shots these guys can get.”

The team can do a little bit of everything, but for Lewis Siegfried, he believes the winning formula is an easy one.

“It helps having a 6′9 kid that’s for sure,” said Siegfried. “Everyone just packs the paint and it makes it easy for us to step outside and shoot threes.”

The Titans have had trouble stringing together wins in the postseason the last few years, but the players are using their recent struggles as a chip on their shoulders this time around.

“Ya, the last two years we have lost in the regional championship game,” said senior Gavin Grothaus. “So we need to get past that so hopefully we can make that happen.”

For head coach Jeff Dahl, he knows his team has the potential to do something special.

“It’s about opportunity,” said Dahl. “We have the opportunity to take advantage of those and reach our potential,”

With plenty of athletes and a hot start, it should be a fun season for these Titans. Next up, they will be competing in the Macomb Western Holiday Tournament, and go into it as the number one seed.

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