ROSTER
Joe Dozark, senior
Nick Ehlers, senior
Alex Gardner, senior
Alex Leet, senior
John Palmer, senior
Alex Sullivan, senior
Jordan Klecker, junior
Devin Lockerby, junior
Hunter Nelson, junior
AJ Worrall, junior
Ian Ehlers, sophomore
2021 SCHEDULE
Jan. 14 — at Red Wing, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 16 — at Mankato West, 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 19 — vs. Austin, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 22 — at Winona, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 26 — vs. Mankato East, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 30 — at Northfield, 1:30 p.m.
Feb. 1 — at Owatonna, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 5 — at Rochester Century, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 8 — vs. Rochester John Marshall, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 12 — vs. Albert Lea, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 16 — vs. Northfield, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 19 — vs. Red Wing, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 23 — at Rochester Mayo, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 26 — at Austin, 7:30 p.m.
March 2 — at Albert Lea, 7:30 p.m.
March 5 — vs. Winona, 7:30 p.m.
March 9 — vs. Rochester Mayo, 7:30 p.m.
March 12 — vs. Rochester Century, 7:30 p.m.
KEY MATCHUPS
Jan. 14 at Red Wing — Perhaps one of the most confounding aspects of the 2019-20 season for the Falcons was the up-and-down play, especially against teams it played multiple times. They will travel to play the Wingers, one of those teams, on the first night of the 2021 season. In the first matchup between the two teams last year, Red Wing raced to a 63-36 home victory. When the two sides reconvened a month and a half later, however, Faribault pulled away for a 79-65 win. The Wingers will start the season with a new coach in Oliver Simmons, who won the 1996 NCAA national championship as a player at the University of Kentucky and possesses 16 years of high school coaching experience, most recently in Tennessee.
He takes over a team that will be led by junior guard Deso Buck. These two teams will also play Feb. 19 in Faribault.
Jan. 16 at Mankato West — Two days later, Faribault will meet another program it used its Jekyll and Hyde performance act against.
In the first game last season, the Scarlets cruised to a 73-55 win in Mankato, while the Falcons picked up a 79-76 win in the rematch. Mankato West does graduate five seniors, but also returns its four leading scorers from last season with senior Martez Redeaux, senior Mason Ellwein, junior Mehki Collins and junior Buom Jock. This will be the only matchup between the two teams this season.
Jan. 22 at Winona — The Winhawks are the final Big 9 Conference team Faribault notched a win against last season shortly after being blown out by the same squad. In the first matchup, Winona eased to a 66-43 win, but Faribault bounced back with a 65-58 victory a month later. As is the theme in the rest of these matchups, a key for the Falcons will be replicating what happened in the second of these matchups — all of which were at home — and discarding what led to the blowout losses. With a large amount of experience back and a relatively young team last season, it’s possible the Falcons may be able to continue the growth it experienced in the second half of last season. As for Winona, it graduates eight seniors from a team that finished 9-13 in the Big 9 last season. The two teams will also play March 5 in Faribault.