Coyote Basketball 2020-21

The Dodson Coyotes have graduated two very talented athletes last season; Corbin LoneBear and Shaun Ball, but Coach Benson is optimistic that the team can make it back into contenders for a spot at State.

The team is also without graduate Landis Walker, who also played a very important role for the team as a team captain off of the bench.

In all, the Coyotes consist of 14 high schoolers and four eighth-graders.

“We had our superstars last year, but this group is more of a team,” Coach Frank Benson said. “Maybe there is a superstar in there, but they are too young to know.”

Coach Benson believes that the team can make it far because of their defense. In an earlier interview, Coach Benson said that the current team may be the most disciplined team that he has had defensively.

“They box-out, they move their feet, they talk more,” Coach Benson said. “They’ve been around for a while, so they just play better team defense.”

The team returns senior Zerek Jones, who earned All-Conference honors last season. Also returning with honors is senior Jeramiah Benson, who was named to the All-Conference Defensive Team.

Also returning is Juliun Benson who was a starter last season. The younger Benson sent shockwaves through the state as he went off for 27 points in Dodson’s win over Plentywood at the Eastern C Divisional.

Other athletes that saw plenty of time on the court last season include Dwight Werk, Kadin Racine, and Alex Werk.

The team proudly welcomed back Michael Jaynes, who had started for Dodson in previous years.

The team also welcomes freshman Sebastian Best.

During the interview, Coach Benson said that they hadn’t had a game yet to see how they defend in real situations.

Last Saturday, his observations came to life as Dodson defeated Wolf Point, 57-46, behind a 25 point outing by Zarek Jones and 17 by Juliun Benson. Jeramiah Benson had 8 points, Dwight Werk added three points. Michael Jaynes and Cash Lallenste each scored two points.

This season, the Coyotes have set goals to beat every team in the 3C conference and punch their ticket to state.

The team took third in the divisional tourney last season, so Coach Benson hopes to lead the team to the top two spots in the Eastern C this year.

Coach Benson said that there is plenty of talent in the 3C District, so the team will have to battle conference opponents hard every game. He also said that he was impressed by non-conference teams on the schedule.

“We have a tough schedule and adding in Poplar and Wolf Point this year, this may be one of the better schedules that I have seen here,” Coach Benson said.