CARIBOU, Maine — Kyle Corrigan, Ben Rosser and Jeremiah Fitzherbert were teammates on the Caribou Vikings a decade ago and now they make up the coaching staff for their alma mater, which has the makeup to be a top-flight team in the Big East Conference and in Class B North as a whole.
Corrigan took over the head coaching gig last spring after veteran coach Chris Casavant stepped down, and he just recently brought Rosser and Fitzherbert along as his assistants. They were part of a successful run as players under Casavant and are ready to help bring back the excitement of winning basketball to the community.
Early returns have been positive as the team went undefeated during the preseason, which included impressive victories over Gray-New Gloucester, who should be a tourney contender in Class B South; Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, one of the favorites in Class C North; and Brewer, a Class A program.
“I like the dedication I’ve seen so far from this group,” Corrigan said. “I ask them to be to practice 15 minutes early every day, and most of them are there before I get there 30 minutes early. They just love being in the gym, they love practicing and they are ready to work every day.”
The Vikings don’t have a lot of size, but are blessed with several players who can handle the ball and shoot well, so Corrigan believes the team will do a lot of running when the opportunity is there.
“We are pretty guard heavy, so we will push the tempo while still being under control,” he said. “Defensively I think we can do a lot of different things this year from hard-nosed man-to-man, to different types of zone defenses.”
Corrigan’s starting group includes senior Austin Findlen, juniors Alex Bouchard, Parker Deprey and Isaac Marker, and sophomore Sawyer Deprey.
Findlen is a captain, along with Bouchard and Parker Deprey, and is known as a tough competitor on both ends of the floor.
“He does a lot of things that might not show up on a stat sheet, but he can also fill the stat sheet on any given night,” Corrigan said.
Bouchard is a shifty guard who handles the ball and reads the game well, while Parker Deprey can score in a lot of ways and owns a great knowledge of the game.
Marker is fast and athletic and is another proven shotmaker. Sawyer Deprey is able to guard opposing teams’ frontcourt players and can be a matchup problem on the other end of the court.
Junior Jacob Berkoski is likely the first player off the bench and is a capable scorer from the guard position. Freshman Michael Brigman owns the ability to score and once he gets acclimated to the varsity game will be a contributor. Junior Jacob Paul should give Caribou a defensive spark off the bench.
Junior Cullin Caverhill is a pesky defender, sophomore Ethan Holdsworth is a solid decision maker, senior Tharen Hand will bolster the team with his size and length and senior Iffy Sargent provides a boost with his energy on defense.
Corrigan said Caribou plays a tough schedule, which includes all the Big East teams along with Maine Central Institute, which is expected to be a strong Class B squad, and Class C powers Houlton and Fort Kent. Still, he believes if the team can defend at a high level and get some easy baskets, reaching the tournament is a reasonable goal.
