With solid foundation built, Clark Fork boys hope to take next step

CLARK FORK — The Clark Fork boys basketball program has undergone an amazing transformation over the last few years with head coach Heath Beason at the center of it all.

When Beason took over the program in 2019, the team had just one win the previous year.

Last season, the Wampus Cats began to turn the corner and Beason saw the fruits of his labor. Clark Fork went 6-14 and picked up a pair of North Star League victories.

The foundation Beason has built is evident and the boys are buying into his culture, and it shows in the turnout. Currently, the Wampus Cats have 15 players, allowing them to have a JV team for a second straight year.

“To me that’s growth and strength in our program and our program is supported by our school and our community,” he said. “As long as we show love and compassion and caring for these kids and we do it for each other, as well as the coaches and the staff, the sky’s the limit.”

Beason was hoping to build off the success and momentum that team saw last year during the offseason but the pandemic ruined those plans.

Beason said he had signed the team up to compete in a handful of tournaments over the summer in an attempt to see what areas they needed to focus on heading into the season.

Beason admitted it was a bit frustrating that those opportunities got taken away, but he’s never seen a group of kids come together and support one another as much as this team has.

“Life throws us curveballs and I also believe that makes you a stronger team,” he said. “Sometimes it doesn’t go the way you planned or the way you like, but there are things that happen that actually make you a better team.”

The Wampus Cats aren’t even two weeks into practice, but Beason is liking what he’s seeing.

“We’ve got a lot of good talent,” he said, “and we got a lot of kids that are willing to share their talent with others and others that are willing to learn.”

Five players are back from last year’s team, but Clark Fork lost four seniors, including three starters.

Beason said those four seniors are hard to replace, but he believes the pieces are there to make up for what the team lost, and he isn’t worried about a lapse in leadership.

That’s because his two maestros in the backcourt are back. Senior shooting guard Cameron Garcia and junior point guard Carter Sanroman set the pace for the Wampus Cats last season and Beason said they have mastered his playbook.

“They know it like the back of their hand,” he said.

Garcia and Sanroman are half brothers, and the duo trusts each other and they share a special connection on the court.

“I know where he’ll be,” Sanroman said. “He’ll be at the basketball hoop and I won’t even be looking, I just know he’ll be there.”

Most of the players on the basketball team are fresh off a season with Clark Fork football. Two newcomers to that team — junior Sam Barnett and sophomore Antonio Mayorga — had a promising season on the gridiron and Beason is expecting both to have a similar impact on the basketball court, particularly Barnett.

“He has picked things up very well,” Beason said. “He’s making some serious strides.”

Garcia was the starting quarterback for the Wampus Cats this past fall and had hopes of three-peating as league MVP and leading Clark Fork back to the state playoffs. But those aspirations all came crashing down following the team’s season opener against Wallace.

Garcia said he woke up the morning after that game with a sore, swollen shoulder. He got an MRI and was told he had an AC separation in his right shoulder.

The injury sidelined him for the next five games, but he was able to take the field for Clark Fork’s season finale at Mullan-St. Regis.

“It was a good way to go out,” he said. “At least I got to play.”

Garcia said his shoulder is feeling great now and he’s using the disappointment of a lost football season as motivation this winter.

“It just gave me more fuel to my fire,” he said. “I just plan to work harder every single day.”

With Garcia out, Sanroman focused all his attention on football and became the bellcow at running back for the Wampus Cats.

“I really had to step up and become everything because that’s what [Garcia] was,” Sanroman said.

Given the time Sanroman dedicated to football over the past few months, he wasn’t able to get on the court very often. But this summer, he said he got a lot of playing time and saw an uptick in his ball handling and vision on the court.

The Wampus Cats are very young this season, boasting six freshmen.

Sanroman said he’s trying to take the inexperienced players under his wing in order to build a brighter future for the program.

“I was in their footsteps one day,” he said. “I didn’t think I was any good, but the older kids could see what I could do, and so we are just trying to get that through their heads that they are a lot better than they think they are.”

Garcia said the freshmen are eager to learn.

“All of them have the desire to work hard,” he said. “They’ll take criticism, they’ll take it all day long and work on it every single day in practice.”

Beason said he has a solid starting five this winter and a deep bench and he believes junior Cole Reuter and sophomore Nathan Shelton will fill key roles for the Wampus Cats. Six-foot-5-inch senior Chris Wade is back on the team and will start at center for Clark Fork.

The NSL is wide open this season and now the Wampus Cats only have to beat Kootenai and Mullan at districts to earn a berth to state. Beason said this team has a lot of potential and excitement around the program is high, but he’s trying to keep realistic expectations and not get ahead of himself.

“We play one game at a time and we let the marbles fall where they fall,” he said.

This Clark Fork team is confident, patient and mature and Beason expects those attributes to pay off in the long run.

Beason said he is giving everyone a chance to prove themselves.

“I believe that every position is up for everybody to get because if you’re going to get complacent then it’s time to put a little fire underneath them and get them back to where they need to go,” he said.

Beason said the kids are excited to be on the court and they are cherishing every second of it knowing it could get taken away at any moment.

“I’m extremely grateful,” Sanroman said about having a season. “I don’t want to be sitting at home doing who knows what. I wouldn’t be too surprised if the season got canceled, but they told us the same thing in football.”

Fans will also be absent from gyms this winter. Garcia, who earned all-league honors as a sophomore, said the team will need to get off to fast starts in games this year to build their own excitement and energy.

“Without that fire, without that yelling, without the, ‘Let’s go, Cats,’ it’s definitely going to be a struggle,” Sanroman said.

Garcia has watched this team evolve over the course of his career and he believes the Wampus Cats are ready to take the next step thanks in large part to Beason.

“He wants the best for us,” he said.

The Wampus Cats open the season at Genesis Prep on Thursday, Dec. 3.