With the curtain now closed on the Whitehall boys basketball season, the operative word heading into next season will be opportunities.

Make that lots of opportunities.

The team loses eight seniors, many of whom were starters last season, leaving only junior Mikey Esquilin returning from the starting five. With all those spots to fill, head coach Jeff Jones said that it gives the younger players a chance to earn playing time.

“With one starter back, there’s going to be a lot of minutes up for grabs,” said Jones. “We will see the competition for those [minutes] during the spring and summer.”

Jones said that it can be an exciting time for both he and the underclassmen who will be vying for varsity minutes as they look to continue the tradition of postseason eligibility at Whitehall.

He also said that most of the junior varsity got to witness how the varsity practiced during the season, giving them a familiarity of how things are done.

“They saw varsity competition already so they understand what we do,” said Jones.

Some of those junior varsity players split time with the varsity, including Ethan Parvel and Joseph Herman. They’ll also return juniors Kevin Virgo, Michael Smith and Jacob Lisicky.

However, the Zephyrs lose many players who were instrumental in establishing Whitehall among the top teams in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference the last two seasons.

Seniors Logan McGinley (third team all-EPC), Zach Gilbert, Devin Martinez, Charles Hudson, Kasai Harrison, Jackson Buskirk, Kayden Walschburger and Eric Johnson, all left an indelible imprint on the program. With their athleticism, they ushered in a new breed of up-tempo basketball which helped the Zephyrs get to the postseason the last two years.

While this season’s early exits in both the league and district playoffs were disappointing, the team had a number of accomplishments that stood out the last two years.

They won a playoff game against Southern Lehigh last season before running into a hot Bangor team, and this season defeated Parkland who made it all the way to the finals in the District 11 6A field.

Jones said that each player brought something different to the court. They were a tough, scrappy unit that had to overcome size disadvantage almost every game.

They Zephs will have to replace all those points now lost to graduation. That will be Jones’ number one goal as he looks toward next season. Esquilin, who averaged 10.8 points per game, will once again run the point, with Parvel also handling those duties. This season the Zephs averaged about 70 points per game. Now a new cast of characters will have to emerge to help fill that void.

Summer is that opportunity for those players who want to get noticed and lay claim to those minutes. Last year the Zephs played about 30 games in a number of leagues and this year’s schedule should rival that.

“We’re hopeful that with theses guys coming up, we can get back to the postseason again,” said Jones.