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St. Joseph's Marshall Beatty, left, puts up a shot in the face of UMA's Ian Patino during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, at Utah Military Academy-Hill Field Riverdale.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

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UMA's Ian Patino steps up for 3-point attempt during a nonregion boys basketball contest against St. Joseph Catholic High School on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, at Utah Military Academy-Hill Field Riverdale.

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UMA's Aiden Borchert, left, watches St. Joseph's Gauge Donovan ascend toward the basket for a layup during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, at Utah Military Academy-Hill Field Riverdale.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

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St. Joseph's Hector Trigueros watches UMA's Mason Jones intently during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, at Utah Military Academy-Hill Field Riverdale.

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St. Joseph's Chase Fridberg-Gerlich switches the ball to teammate Benjamin Betancourt during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, at Utah Military Academy-Hill Field Riverdale.

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UMA coach Sylvester Daniels III is jubilant during a nonregion boys basketball contest against St. Joseph Catholic High School on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, at Utah Military Academy-Hill Field Riverdale.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

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St. Joseph coach Cole Carpenter talks with his bench during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, at Utah Military Academy-Hill Field Riverdale.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

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RIVERDALE — Two of Northern Utah’s smallest high school boys basketball teams, St. Joseph Catholic (Ogden) and Utah Military Academy-Hill Field, feature two small rosters on two very different paths toward the same goal.

Everybody wants to win, and St. Joseph took a step forward, improving to 3-3 on the season with a dominant 30-point romp over the Thunderbirds on the road Friday night.

Senior Chase Fridberg-Gerlich led the floor with a game-high 21 points, and the Jayhawks, led by first-year coach Cole Carpenter, claimed a 59-29 victory.

But there’s plenty of work to do if St. Joseph wants to produce its first winning season since 2017.

The Jayhawks (3-4) were 21-75 over the last five seasons when Carpenter took over for Chad Loosemore this school year. All four of their losses in this campaign have come by an average of 28.7 points, but Fridberg-Gerlich, one of seven seniors, says the future has never looked brighter.

“It’s been a great reset for us,” Fridberg-Gerlich said. “Just little things here and there — talking us through what we need to work on and making sure that everybody knows, ‘Hey, we’re a team, we’re a family and we’re staying together.’ Not only that, but just keeping us all as one, (and) making sure everybody has everybody’s back.”

St. Joseph freshman Trevan Cook (11 points) and junior Gauge Donovan (10 points) padded the box score; senior Marshall Beatty (seven points), sophomore Landon Wolf (five points), senior Felipe Quintero-Uribe (four points) and senior Benjamin Betancourt (one point) all pitched in.

Fridberg-Gerlich powered the Jayhawks early with 12 first-quarter points, including two 3-point buckets, for a 19-4 lead through eight minutes.

“(Carpenter) wants us to make sure we have the energy and keep the energy,” Fridberg-Gerlich said of Friday’s fast start. “Everybody came out with a fire and an intensity that I really liked.”

Carpenter returned high praise to his Fridberg-Gerlich, his leading scorer with 17.5 points per night, and the senior’s growing role as the glue alongside fellow seniors Beatty and Betancourt.

“Chase has been a great example for the kids. Him, Marshall, Ben — it’s always telling them that it starts with you guys,” Carpenter said. “I think winning helps, I think seeing the result of your hard work, which they haven’t really seen in the past, it’s easy to not work hard anymore when you feel like you’re not going to win.”

Across the floor, the Thunderbirds (2-5) took their internal wins just the same. Also looking for much-needed change, UMA-Hill Field has yet to produce a winning season, according to records available via MaxPreps dating back to 2016.

UMA senior Ian Patino ended up the main attraction with 14 team-high points, including eight during the second quarter alone.

Hampered from the field early, UMA sophomores Nicolas Cordoba (four points), Davian Tiznado (three points) and Aiden Rasmussen (three points) wouldn’t reach the book until fourth quarter. In the third quarter, junior Kelton Neal (two points) chipped in a short-range jumper and sophomore Kaison Workman (one point) tacked on a free throw.

It’s also worth noting that a key UMA senior — 8-man football and boys volleyball star Papatia Owda — is expected to miss at least half the season while recovering from a leg injury. Owda rushed for 457 yards and three touchdowns (throwing for another 170 yards and a touchdown) during just four appearances on the football field earlier this fall.

UMA has two wins on the schedule (on the road at Dugway High and against the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind) but are working with a largely inexperienced roster under fifth-year coach Sylvester Daniels III, a 1998 Layton High alum and former football player at Weber State.

“These guys are open to coaching, they play as a team and they have that camaraderie,” Daniels said. “Being able to have a (junior varsity) team and a varsity team, that’s going to just build us for the future. We’ve had a couple key injuries in our upperclassmen, but this is above average (participation) so us being to put a JV team together, that’s what we want.”

He continued:

“For me, it’s about understanding where they are experience-wise and how hard I can push them,” Daniels said. “A lot of these kids are responding in a good way, but you just don’t want to push them too hard because they’re just so green. They’re just so young, and you’ve got to wait and see what they can do.”

Still winning his team’s trust, Carpenter is out to maximize the position St. Joseph is in as the deeper team with a spell of poor seasons that everyone involved is eager to break away from.

“I’ve always dreamed of coaching, and helping the kids is my passion,” Carpenter said. “I think the biggest thing is letting them know I’m not messing around — that losing sucks and we’re here to try and change the culture. It’s been tough, it’s been hard but it’s also you’ve got to get the respect of the kids and let them know you care about them and push them to be great.”

Competing in 1A’s Region 22 for basketball beginning this season, St. Joseph will meet UMA again, this time at home in Ogden, on Dec. 17 as part of its nonregion schedule.

Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.