Haflich halves coaching duties

Bart Haflich will only be half the coach he once was this season.

Still the head coach for the Noxon boys basketball team, Haflich gave up half of his coaching duties when he relinquished the head girls coaching job in the off-season.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Haflich seems less stressed out now than he was last year at this time when he was struggling to put together game plans for two different teams. The main difference is the amount of free time he now seems to have on his hands.

"It does seem like there is less running around to do, less stress in my life now," Haflich admitted. "I was actually able to get away and do a little hunting last weekend, it was kind of nice to get out in the woods this time of year again."

Now that Haflich has narrowed his focus down to the Devil boys only, he is ready to guide his latest team to another successful season. The Devils ended their season on a high note last winter, giving Arlee one of its toughest tests of the season in the semifinals of the District 14C tourney before falling to the Warriors, who later went on to complete an undefeated season and claim a second straight State C title.

The resurgent Big Red battled their way into the 14C tourney consolation game before finally having their season ended.

"We hope to make that the expectation from now on, playing on Saturday night at the conference tournament," he said. "We have some experienced players but our young guys will be our barometer for success. If they can give us quality minutes, we could have a pretty good season."

Haflich and the Devils will open the season with a pair of non-conference games at the Western C Tip-Off Tournament in Frenchtown, playing Clark Fork Friday and Lincoln Saturday.

Senior Logan Wood and junior Rylan Weltz, both District 14C second team all-conference picks last year, return to lead the Devils, seniors Alex Currie, Owen Fisher, Levi Brubaker and Edison VanVleet all have extensive playing experience, and junior Michael Antonich and sophomore Jeriko Smith-Roach complete Noxon's current varsity roster.