Awards night: Bulldog coaches celebrate back-to-back titles

If there were some common themes throughout the evening during the Lovell boys basketball awards night last week, the words that come to mind are teamwork, growth and determination.

Head coach Shane Durtsche and assistants Steven Durtsche and Jacob Lohoff looked back on the current season but also the last four years of program building, culminating in back-to-back 26-2 seasons and state championships.

Durtsche started by thanking first-year freshman coach Jacob Lohof, who took over from Nicc Crosby this season. He called Lohof an excellent addition to the staff, adding, “We were lucky to snag him when we lost coach Crosby.”

The head coach continued that the freshman program is vital to the varsity squad, calling the players the “building blocks” for the future and an important part of the team culture. As he gathered his players on stage, Lohof thanked parents for “dragging them around,” noting that freshmen cannot drive yet. He noted that the freshman team had a strong year, playing to a 13-4 record.

Steven Durtsche spoke about the junior varsity squad, saying that JV coaching is a challenge because he never knows from week to week who is available to play based on quarter limitations and varsity needs. He said following the opening weekend in Casper it looked like the team would experience a long season, but the players battled and beat teams they perhaps shouldn’t have.

“They brought it every game, and every one of them was playing his role,” Steven said. And added head coach Shane, “These guys were always ready when called upon. You have to have a strong JV team.”

Varsity team

Shane Durtsche first announced varsity letter winners, then spoke about how the team came together this season after losing some key players from the 2024-25 championship team.

“As a staff, you never know,” he said. “We knew we’d have a very nice team again, and we never questioned their athletic ability. They’re very gifted. But as a coaching staff there were questions about their mental and physical toughness and their leadership. But the seniors embraced it.”

Durtsche said the team started strong at the first-weekend Casper tournament, then experienced some ups and downs. But by the Lander/Pinedale weekend the team “pretty well had if figured out. He said players like junior Sam Mayes and seniors Brody Muller and Jaxen Clark stepped up their game to help the starting five of junior Kaeson Anderson and seniors Matthew Newman, Owen Edwards, Owen Walker and Kyle Wilson.

“We couldn’t do it without them,” Durtsche said of the players off the bench.

Durtsche said the seniors are very special to him because he coached them when they were in eighth grade as he helped brother Steven, and the players helped rekindle his passion for coaching.

“These knuckleheads, they’ve come so far,” he said, adding that the state championship game win over Douglas proved the team’s mettle.

“We didn’t have our best day, and Douglas played very well,” he said, “but guys stepped up when needed. That’s what a winning team does.”

Durtsche pointed to Anderson’s hot shooting in the first half and Walker’s dominance in the second, along with clutch drives and shots by Newman, who he said “wasn’t going to lose.”

Part of coaching, he said, was loosening the reins on the team a bit, noting that while a coach might question shot selection for, say, Newman, the senior would hit the bulk of them, and the team was strong in transition. He added that Edwards stepped up this season and hit many key shots, and Wilson came into his own this season and “probably improved the most” of anyone on the team to become a true force inside.

Looking at the other seniors, Durtsche said Muller ran the floor well and brought toughness. Muller stepped up to the point where “I really started to trust him,” the coach added. Clark came a long way, Durtsche said, and had some big moments with his ability to score inside, “and we actually got him to smile a little bit in practice.”

He also praised senior Cash Wassmer, calling him “the energizer bunny” who gave it his all when he came into a game and kept practices lively.

“I’m going to miss these guys,” Durtsche said. “They’re not only outstanding athletes and young men, they’re fun – goofballs. But it works. I owe a lot to Coach (Steven) Durtsche and Coach Lohof. It’s a perfect combination. We had a lot of fun, but we worked hard and demanded a lot.

“I’m going to miss them (the seniors) a lot. They won back-to-back state championships, but I’ll be honest, they definitely had the talent, but I didn’t know if they had the mental side or not. I challenged them, and they’re all competitors.”

The team responded to the challenge, Durtsche said.

“Like Owen (Walker). I probably never coached anyone that hard (before), but he earned it (with his great potential). I probably backed off a little this year,” he said. “What a run. You don’t think about it (during the year), and you realize you have a chance, but they have to do it – and they did. They finished with an 18-game winning streak with a circle (target) on their back. They knew they were the best team out there, and they held themselves to the standard. They earned it.

“It was a lot of fun. What a run, gentlemen. Well done.”

Durtsche said the players were “good dudes, great guys” with a 3.73 GPA and who he never had to worry about on road trips, adding, “That’s a testament to you as parents.”

He called the support from the community “awesome” and thanked those in the room, thanking them for “being great parents” and for letting him coach the team the way they needed to be coached.

“You put a lot of trust in us, and we appreciate it,” he said. “It’s truly a blessing.”

He also thanked the Lovell Chronicle for coverage.

Honors

Durtsche did not give any team awards, but he did note all-state players Walker, Newman and Anderson, all-conference selection Edwards and honorable mention player Wilson, who he said might also have been named all-conference if he hadn’t rolled his ankle late in the season when we was playing his best basketball.

Wilson helped Walker’s game this season, Durtsche said, by taking pressure off his fellow post. Durtsche said Walker was able to play five or six more minutes per game this season “because Kyle was leaning on every big guy.” He listed numerous statistical superlatives and noted that Walker finished his career with more than 1,400 points and nearly 1,100 rebounds, making the rare “1,000-1,000” club. Walker was the Class 3A Player of the Year and the 3A Defensive Player of the Year.

Anderson was a truly consistent player who coaches knew was going to “show up every night,” Durtsche said, adding, “That’s probably the highest compliment I can give a kid. I never had to worry about him.”

He noted that Anderson played with a torn thumb ligament on his shooting hand and “battled it” all season but said he nearly always came through, and if he hadn’t been hot in the first quarter against Douglas in the state title game, “we’re dead.” He called Anderson “my glue kid” who often drew an opponent’s top scorer for a defensive assignment, along with Newman.

Edwards also played with a thumb injury this season, Durtsche noted.

Newman probably came the furthest mentally, the coach said, adding, “He has grown up before our eyes – by leaps and bounds. He would often take away a team’s best guard, and his athletic ability is off the charts. And he doesn’t get tired. He has unbelievable energy, and he has the ability to get to the rim and pull away from people (in the open court).”

Walker is a three-year all-state player, “which doesn’t happen a lot, especially at the 3A/4A level,” Durtsche noted.

“As a freshman we threw Owen to the wolves,” Durtsche said. “We started coaching him hard from the get-go, and he’s been a huge part of this program with Matthew. He’s had a heck of a career.”

Wrapping up, Durtsche said he’s fortunate to be able to work with his staff: brother Steven, Lohoff and volunteers Kevin Walker and Jared Nicholls, noting, “I wouldn’t be up here (celebrating a title on stage) without them.”