In a way, it's only fitting that third-year Warsaw boys basketball coach Doug Ogle is making his team wear mouth pieces this year.

Six of his 11 varsity players also play football, and he says the strength of this year's boys hoops team is its strength.

He says he hopes the mouth pieces not only protect his players, the obvious purpose of using them, but that they send a message to the other team.

Ogle's plan is to use his players' strength and physically wear down opponents this season.

"I think this is a team that can physially wear teams down," said Ogle, who won 14 games in each of his first two seasons at the varsity level. "We're not going to play dirty or cheap, but we're going to play physical."

The Tigers, who fell 45-43 in the sectional last year to eventual state runner-up Columbia City, open the 2004-2005 season Wednesday when they host Gary Wirt.

Warsaw opened the season a year ago with a 59-29 win over Gary Wirt and hasn't lost to the Troopers since the 1994-95 season.

To those Warsaw fans in attendance at Wednesday's game, the Tigers may look a lot like last year's junior varsity team that went 17-3.

Mostly because that's what Warsaw's varsity team will be made up of this year.

Graduated from last year's 14-8 team that won the Northern Lakes Conference championship and finished as runner-up in the NLC Holiday Tournament are Todd Braddock, Adam Griggs, Ryan Schultz, Mark Sherman, Greg Allison and Dan Gensinger.

Also gone is all-conference point guard and two-year starter Michael Moore, who would have been a senior at Warsaw this year but transferred to Concord. Kyle Moore, Michael's brother, started for the Warsaw JV team last year as a freshman and will also wear the kelly green and white of Shawn Kemp's alma mater.

"We did graduate a solid senior class that was NLC champs," said Ogle. "Along with that, Michael Moore transferred to Concord. We lost a lot of varsity experience, but as the season progresses, I think we have a good chance to be a very good basketball team."

Ogle thinks this way because he has Michael Wienhorst back for his senior year, his third year on the varsity squad.

Wienhorst missed five games last season after injuring his knee against Wawasee, but came back healthy and hit game-winning shots against Elkhart Memorial and Plymouth that led the Tigers to the outright NLC title.

In 17 games a year ago, Wienhorst averaged 10.3 points per game and shot 52 percent from the field.

After what many close to the program said was a very productive summer for Wienhorst, he will be looked at by opposing coaches as Warsaw's top offensive threat.

"He's going to provide leadership, especially early in the season," Ogle said of the 6-foot-2 Wienhorst. "My sense is that he's ready to go. He's very much looking forward to the opportunity he has to lead this team."

Also back with experience, albeit experience coming off the bench, are seniors Andrew Holladay and Nelson Conley.

While its members lack any significant amount of varsity experience, it's the junior class that Ogle is extremely excited about.

It includes Shaun Cabrera, J.W. Maierle, Colin Clemens, Mitchell Reinholt, Eric Kleinhans and Jordan Fuller.

That class wtih 20-0 as freshmen and 17-3 last year on the junior varsity team.

Not only is Ogle excited about the junior class' talent, he also raves about how well they play together and how well they mesh with the seniors.

"The mix of the juniors and seniors appears to be a more cohesive unit than I've had in my first two years," said Ogle. "This is the most comfortable I've felt as we go into my third season. One, we're not dealing with injuries like we have in the past, and two, the makeup of this team has just been more enjoyable to coach."

After Wednesday's opener with Gary Wirt, the Warsaw will be back at the Tiger Den Saturday for a game with rival Columbia City. [[In-content Ad]]