New Vail Mountain School boys basketball coach navigates early-season injuries ahead of rematch with Vail Christian

Stepping into a head coaching position isn’t easy to begin with. Navigating injuries to both captains along the way makes it a lot harder.

The Vail Mountain School boys basketball team was up by 10 against Vail Christian on Jan. 9 when the air was suddenly sucked out of the gym.

“Grant (Iverson) went out and it just completely deflated us,” first-year coach Andrew Saad said, referring to a high-ankle sprain the senior suffered in what ended up being a 16-point loss to the Saints.

“(Vail Christian) is a good team this year and we had their number,” Saad stated. “We scouted them right, we did everything right and we would have beaten them if it wasn’t for injuries, no doubt in my mind.”

Saad has since lost leading scorer Harrison Baumer. The co-captain dropped 22 points in an early-season win over Swink and scored in double figures in three of his six starts before being sidelined by an achilles injury prior to the team’s game against Battle Mountain on Jan. 13. Despite the misfortune, the rest of the roster responded resiliently.

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“After Grant went down against Vail Christian, we had a scoreless quarter, but then we fought back,” Saad said. “We stayed in the game and kind of carried that energy into (the game against) Caprock (Academy). We rallied and really fought. It would have been very easy to roll over and just go through the motions, but these guys are still 110% effort.”

Saad was an assistant last year under Andrew Behrendt — who took the reins from Caleb Florence last winter after he’d spent more than a decade as a junior varsity coach and varsity assistant. Saad helped guide the Rangers to a 13-7 record last year and felt confident with the crew coming back this season.

“We have a lot of the same talent,” he said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we could have had just as good a season as we had last year.”

Win-loss records aren’t his primary priority, now.

“I really wanted to help these kids grow into more leadership roles,” Saad said. “It’s about having each other’s back and being positive when it’s not always easy to.”

That focus was on full display against the Huskies, who went up 19-0 before the Rangers got on the board. The 2A team hung in there, however, outscoring their 5A opponents in the second quarter and bringing the deficit back to within 16 — after it had ballooned back to 24 in the third — by the end of the game. The Rangers’ never-say-die attitude was a microcosm for the season’s larger themes.

“Just because we got hit hard first doesn’t mean we can’t swing back,” Saad said after the game. “There’s going to be adversity we continue to face — and such is life. And it’s just important that these guys continue to grow. To learn from the losses as much as we do from the wins.”

Vail Mountain School split last weekend’s games, falling 60-35 to De Beque on Jan. 16 before taking down Hayden 41-30 the next day. They lost to Meeker 52-29 on Tuesday to fall to 3-9. The Rangers are at home against Rangely on Friday night and will get another shot at Vail Christian on Feb. 3 in Edwards. Chances are, neither Iverson nor Baumer will be back.

“Depends on what the basketball gods have in store for us,” Saad said.

No matter how the season ultimately shapes up, though, the coach remains optimistic for what lies ahead.

“They look great,” he said when asked about the underclassmen and other players expected to return from this year’s junior-heavy squad. “The future for VMS is extremely bright.”