The Emmaus boys basketball program has depth and balance on the roster heading into the 2016-17 season. The one thing the Hornets might lack is experience.

With three starters and the sixth man graduating from last year’s team, there will be plenty of minutes to go around to young and inexperienced players on the varsity level for the first time.

The front court is where most of the question marks will be as starters Joey Polcyznski and Jacob Scarnulis both graduated.

Junior Josh Artis and sophomore Zach Sabol are the leading candidates to start this season at the forward positions. Artis played sparingly last year, and Sabol missed the entire season due to an injury. Getting them acclimated to the varsity level will be important for Emmaus head coach Steve Yoder.

“We don’t have a lot of experience down low,” said Yoder, who is in his ninth year as Emmaus head coach. “We need to get the younger, inexperienced players up to speed quickly. Realistically, we hope to be better at the end of the year than the beginning.

“We have a lot of first-time varsity players who will be earning lots of minutes. If they are able to make the jump, we feel we will be able to compete with anyone on our schedule, and will have high expectations for the postseason.”

The Green Hornets finished last season at 20-9. They made the final four in both the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District 11 Class 4A playoffs. After winning a Class 4A third-place game to reach the state tournament, Emmaus won the school’s first PIAA playoff game since the 2004-05 season.

A big part of the success last year was the play of senior guards David and Matt Kachelries. They give Emmaus leadership in the backcourt with along with fellow seniors Daryn Lewis and Eric Cichocki. Junior Tommy Ross and sophomore Bryce Diehl will also see playing time.

In the post, plenty of younger players are in the mix. Juniors Austin Boyd, Cole Ferguson and Corey Reigel all were a part of the team last year, and will look to make bigger contributions this season.

“We will be using the motto ‘one game at a time’ for sure,” said Yoder. “But our goals are the same as they have been for several years now: qualify for EPC’s, districts, states, and put ourselves in a position to win as many of those as we can.

“We need to stay healthy and have some luck along the way, and it should be an exciting season if that happens.”

Emmaus opens up play next Tuesday at home against one of the conference and district contender Pocono Mountain West. The Green Hornets ended the Panthers’ season in the District 11 4A third-place game last year.