Athletic Hanover team ready to compete for new coach

The Hanover boys took a quick break after winning the 8-man Division II state football championship before turning around and beginning their basketball season. They did not have any games for week one, but are jumping right into the season this week, hoping to experience some of the same success they had in football.

They will do so under a new coach, Hanover principal Cory Jensen. Jensen takes over after a long, successful tenure of Coach Kim Lohse. Jensen coaches for eight years at Tri-County High School in Nebraska, where his teams were crowned as district runners-up one year and had two of the school’s top three seasons for total season wins in school history.

Hanover had a 12-11 record last year, but they return two all-league picks (first-teamer Emmitt Jueneman and second-teamer Blake Hynek) to a team with quite a bit of varsity experience. Five seniors graduated from last year’s team – Taegan Schwartz, Zachary Zarybnicky, Jacob Bruna, Zach Brun and Calen Martin – but four starters return, including Emmitte Jueneman, Hynek, Jacob Jueneman and Keagan Dimler.

Other key newcomers are Philip Doebele, Joshua Zarybnicky, Colin Jueneman (who was injured last season) and Jacob Klipp.

“We have skill at every position, with guys who can shoot and dribble and make plays without necessarily having to score the ball,” said Jensen.

The team also has significant size across the board.

“I don’t know if we will have anyone below 6-1 on the floor at any time,” said Jensen. “We have guys who can move and cover a lot of area. On the offensive end, we want to spread the floor and allow our athletes space to operate.”