For the Dowagiac boys basketball team, the 2013-14 season opener has finally arrived.

The Chieftains will be opening both their season and the Wolverine Conference West Division campaign when they host Coloma in the third game of a tripleheader Friday.

The Dowagiac girls JV basketball team will face Coloma at 4:15 p.m. The Chieftain girls varsity team will play the Comets at 6 p.m. with the boys game scheduled to begin at approximately 7:15 p.m.

Dowagiac returns just three players from last year’s West Division championship squad that went 18-3. Back for the Chieftains are Davion Highsmith, Kyle Solloway and Bryce Dodd.

Highsmith and Solloway will not play in the season opener and Dodd is coming off a football injury.

That means veteran Dowagiac coach Danum Hunt is going to have to turn to his inexperienced players tonight.

Among those players are JV products Brandon Winchester-Jones, Keontae Blackamore, Harry Reid and Matt Smith. Smith played limited minutes with the varsity as a freshman and then spent last season with the JV as a sophomore.

 

Girls basketball

The Chieftains will likely be looking to rebound from Tuesday night’s 53-13 loss to Niles when they host the Comets Friday in the West Division opener.

Dowagiac is 1-2 on the season after snapping a 24-game losing streak last Friday night against Berrien Springs.

The Chieftains are 1-0 in the West Division heading into tonight’s contest.

Dowagiac will be without leading scorer and rebounder Ciera Smith, who suffered an apparent knee injury in the loss to the Vikings.

Without Smith, the Chieftains will have to find a way to generate some offense. Dowagiac will also have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball as it turned it over 45 times against Niles’ pressure defenses.

 

Wrestling

The Dowagiac wrestling team will be in competition for only the second time this season as Wednesday’s match at Otsego was cancelled due to weather.

The Chieftains will head to Delton-Kellogg for a tournament scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.