Who would have believed a team that lost four of its five starters coming off a run to a fourth place finish in Class 1A could make a repeat trip to Peoria? That's exactly what happened to the Lewistown Indians. Coach Brad Hatfill engineered his team to a repeat performance in the state finals despite losing 80% of his starting rotation. Not only that, Lewistown improved to finish 3rd in state after a 4th place finish in 2007-08.

With those type of stats, the sky is the limit for 2009-10, with five full-time or part-time starters back in the fold. Quinton Hatfill (6'1" Sr. Guard) enters his third-year as a starter. Quinton is the son of coach Brad Hatfill, and his older brother, Clayton who was on the 2007-08 state qualifying team plays basketball at Illinois College. Quinton averaged 15 points/game and 6 rebounds/game as a junior and enters his senior year with 782 career points.

To say the Indians have size, would be an understatement for this Class 1A school. In the post will be Joseph Jugovic (6'9" Sr. Center), who really progressed as a player throughout the 2008-09 season. He finished the year averaging 5.2 points/game and 4.7 rebounds/game. Ian Simpson (6'4" Sr. Forward) joins Hatfill as the only other full-time starter from last year's team. He averaged 8.5 points/game and 5.7 rebounds/game. Another part-time starter from last year's squad will be forwards, Zack Rilea (6'4" Jr. Forward/Center) and Kevin Battefeld (6'3" Jr. Forward). Personally, I expect Rilea to have a breakout season for Lewistown. He averaged just 1.9 points/game and 2.7 rebounds/game as a sophomore. Battefeld averaged 2.8 points/game and 3.4 rebounds/game.

Other Indians that will see the floor this season will be Zach Duncan (6'0" Jr. Guard), who was the first guard off the bench last year. Risty Johnson (6'0" Sr. Guard/Forward) saw minutes last season, and Trevor Shubert (6'4" Sr. Center) also look to see time. "We are looking forward to another succesful season. We will need some inexperienced kids to step up, but we have good size overall."

In years past, Lewistown has usually been one of the league favorites in the Prairieland Conference. This year, they may be challenged by a relative newcomer. "Brimfield would have to be the favorite. Last years champs and returning some key players. We should be in the mix," Hatfill said. Brimfield won the conference in their first year in 2008-09.

Brad Hatfill is entering his eighth season as head coach at Lewistown, where he has amassed 133 wins. In his 16 years of coaching, he has a career record of (277-163).

Lewistown reached the state finals in 1939-40. That year, the team went (27-5) under head coach George Dertinger. The only times Lewistown has won a Sectional championship, have been in their three years qualifying for the state finals. The school has won a total of 11 Regional titles. Mel Casper won 226 games as head coach from (1991-92 to 2001-02).