For any team, going weeks without a victory can be tough emotionally and mentally on the players. Western Plains High School is not different. The Bobcat Boys finished the season with no wins out of the 21 games played.

However, Head Coach Jerod Horchem said his players never let the losing deter their focus on the game.

“The guys were self-motivated,” he said. “They played hard every game. They never said quit.”

To Horchem, that means there were a few positives in the negatives.

“It was a season in the sense of wins and losses, but I think we took steps forward as individual players,” he said.

On a few occasion, Horchem said the Bobcat Boys played better than the team record showed, specifically against La Crosse and Ness City when the inter-county rival came to Bobcat territory.

“And at Sylvan Grove at the end of the season, we almost took one,” he said.

Horchem admitted the season didn’t live up to his expectations.

“I thought we’d win more games,” he said. “We just needed more experience. We needed kids who had game experience.”

Horchem said the players also had to go through a lot during the course of the season, and they never had the chance to learn how to win.

“We just couldn’t get breaks when we needed them,” he said.

Like he said, though, Horchem believes the team got better throughout the season.

“They improved more than we can measure,” he said.

The team was led by a special group of seniors — Shane Corsair, Eric Dysinger and Thomas Heily.

“Shane and Eric did a great job,” Horchem said. “They were our senior leaders. They carried the load. Thomas, he’s a workhorse. He did a good job of getting people motivated.”

Horchem said he was also impressed with the underclassmen who had to play considerable varsity time this season, something people may view as a negative since the less-experienced had to compete against the experienced.

“I think it will be good in the future will all the experience they got,” he said. “I look forward to seeing the younger players compete next year. The future is so bright I have to wear shades.”

That sparkling future will get riding on the back of next year’s seniors, who will include Chase Rein and Joel Hernandez.

“We got two, good senior leaders in them,” Horchem said.

Horchem also said the likes of Asael Rivera, Hugo Hernandez, Casey Kraus and Colton Rein will bring experience to the court.

Coming off the heels of last year’s record, Horchem said the losses wouldn’t be a downer for the players.

“I think they’ll use it as motivation,” he said. “It can’t be any worse.”

This season was Horchem’s first year as head coach, and he said he enjoyed it a great deal.

“It was a good and fun time,” he said.

Horchem brought a different coaching style to the Bobcats when he took over.

“I probably joke around at practice less,” he said. “I like to go hard and get it over with and then goof off for a while.”

The players seemed to adapt well to this style, Horchem said.

“They never quite and played hard, no matter how much we were down,” he said.

Horchem also wished to thank his coaching staff for the season’s work.

“I’d like to thank Todd Vogts for all the help with the computers and The Bobcat Nation,” he said.

Next year won’t bring drastic changes to the way Horchem plans to run the team, but he said they would make necessary adjustments.

“We’ll do a few things differently,” he said. “We’ll do a little more five-man work.”