Below is an alphabetical, team-by-team preview of the seven Region 1 high school boys basketball teams, plus a look at Roy High’s outlook in Region 2.

CLEARFIELD

After a decade-plus, Clearfield boys basketball has a new head coach. Scott McLaughlin starts his first year as head coach after longtime coach Curtis Hulse stepped down in the offseason.

The Falcons bring back a lot of players from last year’s 4-18 team, namely senior center Austin Mitchell (7.9 points, 4.0 rebounds per game), senior guard Lincoln Church (5.9 points), senior forward Jaxon Ogden, senior forward James Barraza, junior guard Trace Hansen, junior guard Spencer Jones, junior guard Peyton Kotter (4.7 points) and junior center Chase McNeill.

“(We’ve) been working very hard on improving shooting and rim work, which should both be strengths this season,” McLaughlin said.

Clearfield shot 41% from the field and 29% from 3-point range last year and averaged 20 rebounds per game, according to MaxPreps.

Clearfield is 0-1 with a 57-55 loss to Mountain Crest last Wednesday. The Falcons’ nonregion schedule includes home games with Stansbury (Dec. 6), Roy (Dec. 9), Hunter (Dec. 13) and West (Dec. 16), and a game at Northridge (Dec. 28).

DAVIS

Last year’s experienced, talented and senior-heavy Davis team went 22-1 in the regular season with a third straight region championship, then lost to Syracuse in the second round of the state playoffs at home.

Almost no one from that team returns this year, but the Darts have been in a similar situation (inexperienced team) a couple of times recently and been a top-half region team anyway.

Gone are seniors Rex Sunderland, Colby Sims, Sawyer Cottrell, Max Painter, Henry Ihrig and Tate Garff, a few of whom started multiple years and were catalysts for Davis’ state-title run in 2021.

Into the lineup are seniors Colby Whicker, Kaden Eggett, Alex Fisher and Jon Gordon, plus juniors Zach Fisher and Ike Morgan and sophomores Coleman Atwater and Bennett Wright.

Alex Fisher had 16 points with eight rebounds in last week’s 60-32 win over Bonneville. Atwater had 14 with six boards and Zach Fisher scored 12 with six rebounds.

Davis’ nonregion schedule includes Pleasant Grove (Wednesday), Olympus (Dec. 10) and Lone Peak (Dec. 15). Rivalry games with Farmington, both of which attracted standing-room-only crowds last year, are Jan. 6 at Farmington and Jan. 31 at Davis.

FARMINGTON

Farmington looks a bit different this year now that BYU-bound guard Collin Chandler, who was last year’s Standard-Examiner All-Area MVP, graduated.

Junior forward Paul Beattie is the team’s leading returning scorer and rebounder (12.6 points, 6.6 rebounds). Senior point guard Cole Johnson, senior forward Ben Stucki and junior forward Ethan Atkinson return.

Head coach Kasey Walkenhurst said Beattie and Johnson will be Farmington’s main contributors and spotlighted junior shooting guard Jayden Haskell as another key player on offense.

“I think our strengths will be our size and our ability to stretch the floor and with our bigs and guards,” Walkenhurst said. “If we decide to make defense a priority, we can be good. If we don’t, then it will be our biggest hurdle.”

The Phoenix is 1-0, having beaten East 50-40 last week. Beattie scored 15 points with 10 rebounds, Haskell had 12 and the two combined to shoot 10 for 20 from the field.

FREMONT

Fremont’s being looked at as one of the favorites, if not the favorite, in Region 1 thanks to its talent and experience.

Senior center David Calvert (14.1 points), senior point guard Braden Flinders (7.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists), senior forward Christian Blanch (3.2 points, 2.9 rebounds) and senior guard Boston Hadley all have starting experience.

The biggest name now might be junior shooting guard Hunter Hansen (15.4 points), who verbally committed to Utah State this summer a few days after receiving an offer from the school.

Seniors Treyden Hoggan, Gage McFarland and Hudson Barlow are expected to be in the rotation, along with sophomore Easton Duft and possibly Jaxon Slaugh, another sophomore.

Fremont is deep, talented, experienced — sort of everything teams want.

“Experience is our strength. We also have great shooters and playmakers on the floor, which allows us to play fast and spread teams out. We have some post-up guys as well where we can play inside-out,” Fremont coach Corey Melaney said.

FHS is 0-1 so far. The Silverwolves’ nonregion schedule includes a home game against Woods Cross (Dec. 14), a home game against defending 5A champion Olympus (Dec. 20) and an away game at Bonneville (Dec. 29).

LAYTON

Layton appears to have a good mix of talent, experience, guards and posts to make a run in Region 1 and the Lancers are being looked at as a possible top-half region team.

Junior guards Mekhi Martin and KJ Miller are in their third year on the varsity team (Martin’s a three-year starter, Miller’s a two-year starter), and the Lancers bring back 6-foot-10 center Brock Mendoza, who was their leading rebounder.

Also in the mix are seniors Elias Parkinson, Andrew Watts, Crew Harrop, Cooper Tullis, Josh Brown and Brady Cooper. Like some other Layton teams recently, there’s a lot of height on the roster.

“This group has a little bit of everything. We just need to put it all together,” head coach Kelby Miller said.

Last year, Layton went 7-15 overall and 4-8 in Region 1, with seven of the region losses coming by single digits. The Lancers are currently 1-0 with a 76-74 overtime win against Copper Hills.

SYRACUSE

Syracuse went 10-14 last year and was 5-7 in Region 1, but the Titans were the only Region 1 team to get to the neutral site of the state tournament after first upsetting Lone Peak and then Davis on the road in the playoffs.

And they might be somewhere between a mid-table Region 1 team and a top-half team despite graduating two of their top three scorers (Brock Williams and Brandon Clark).

Starting senior guard Kaden Ericksen (13.1 points, 4.2 rebounds) and senior forward Brevin Hamblin (7.1 points, 9.4 rebounds) anchor the group. Ericksen shot 45% from the field last year (36% from 3-point range) and Hamblin shot 52%.

Syracuse also brings back junior forward Josh Godfrey, senior guard Carter Semrow, senior guard Kane King, senior forward Dax Brady and adds senior Daxton Faddis, junior Logan Goddard and sophomore Bradlee Treejo to the mix.

“We return a lot of experience and we have tough players. We are accustomed to being the “underdog” and don’t really care what others think. Our team members believe in one another and believe we can win a lot of games,” head coach Mike Russell said.

Russell expects Region 1 to be balanced this year, a sentiment shared among multiple coaches in the region. (Another shared sentiment among the region’s coaches is approval of adding the shot clock.)

The Titans are 1-0 and host Bonneville (Wednesday) before going to Roy (Friday), Woods Cross (Dec. 6) and Lone Peak (Dec. 13).

WEBER

Weber returns two starters, guards Hunter Schenck and Griffyn Doughty. Schenck was the second-leading scorer last year behind Cannon DeVries, so the Warriors should be alright in terms of replacing scoring, but DeVries averaged 6.5 assists last year at the point. They also lost a lot of rebounding and inside play with graduations of Stryker Rashid and Stockton Short.

Schenck, a junior, has an offer from Utah Tech and already has a 26-point game to his name this year. New players in the mix this year are seniors Jaxon Shaw, Ethan Shupe, Cole Bingham and Dylan Rylands.

Head coach Landon Cosby said defense and rebounding have been the main focuses for a team that he thinks will be able to score a lot of points.

“This has been our main focus in practice. We have had some great practices and these guys have been getting after it,” he said.

Weber went 10-14 last year with a double-overtime win at Hunter in the first round of the playoffs before losing at Bingham in the second round. The Warriors are 0-1 after a 24-point loss at Box Elder last week.

Weber has away games at Bonneville (Dec. 16) and Bear River (Dec. 28) in its nonregion schedule. The two Weber-Fremont games are Jan. 13 (at Fremont) and Feb. 7 (at Weber).

ROY IN REGION 2

Roy went 9-15 last year and 6-6 in Region 2, losing to Farmington 69-37 in the playoffs. Curiously, the Royals had alternating wins and losses in their final 14 games of the year.

The Royals bring back senior forward Elijah Sowards (8.3 points, 5.9 rebounds), senior point guard Beau Belnap (4.0 points, 2.8 assists) and junior guard Bronson Belnap (4.6 points, 2.2 assists).

Sowards scored 18 points with six rebounds last week against Skyline and Beau Belnap had 11 points.

Head coach Scott Hunt said several players are in the mix for starting spots: senior forward Jayden Spencer, senior guard Brody Nebeker, senior guard Brendon Bailey, junior forward Jony Alcaraz, junior guard Corben Schuffenhauer, junior guard Daxton Warren and sophomore guard Colby Frokjer.

Hunt added that the team is deep with an “unusually high” level of unity. Height and size will be an issue once the Royals face big and tall teams.

The Royals face exclusively Northern Utah schools in nonregion play before Christmas: Syracuse (Friday), Bear River (Dec. 7), at Clearfield (Dec. 9), at Bonneville (Dec. 14), Northridge (Dec. 16) and at Ben Lomond (Dec. 20).

So far in 2022-23, Roy is 0-1 with a 60-54 loss against Skyline last week. In Region 2, expect Cyprus High to carry the torch once again after a 12-0 region record last year.

The Pirates are 1-0 so far with that win being a 58-49 decision at Pleasant Grove. They’re led by senior point guard Quentin Meza, who’s one of the top players in the state and has an offer from Navy.

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.

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