The Harrisburg boys opened their season Saturday afternoon on the road with a beat down at Sturgeon, 61-36. The Bulldogs return two of their top four scorers from a year ago and look to continue their long tradition of hard-nosed, high-intensity basketball.

Harrisburg finished with an 18-11 record last season, ending with a loss in the district final to eventual state champion Salisbury. Under head coach Kyle Fisher, the Bulldogs have only finished below .500 twice and have posted two 20-win seasons over the last six years. 

Fisher is a former All-State player who led the Bulldogs to two state titles. Now, he is back for his seventh year as head coach. Tuesday’s victory over Sturgeon marked his milestone 100th win as a head coach.

“I don’t know if we’re necessarily more hungry this year than we are every year,” Fisher said. “Every year, our goal is to win a district title game, and the last two years, we came up a little short. We’re definitely looking forward to the challenge of getting back there.”

The Bulldogs found out Friday they will compete in a new district this year. Instead of a postseason tournament against longtime rivals Salisbury, Fayette, New Franklin, and Westran, Harrisburg will move east to compete with nearby Sturgeon, as well as Wellsville-Middletown Van-Far, Silex, Paris, and Clopton in District 5.

“It’s different. It seems like we’ve been in the same district forever and ever,” Fisher said.

One thing the players and coaches could always count on was playing for a district title against familiar teams, Fisher explained. That all changes with the new district. “This year, we don’t have that familiarity. Which can be good and bad.”

Harrisburg will have the opportunity to play two of those District 5 teams during the regular season. The Bulldogs have held a long rivalry against Sturgeon, simply because of proximity. Harrisburg has won 10 of the last 11 matchups, including on Saturday. And they will face Van-Far in the 2023 Gary Filbert Classic on Dec. 16 in Mexico. Mo.

But facing new teams has never been a worry for Harrisburg, which each year stacks its schedule with formidable teams from across mid-Missouri. This year, the Bulldogs will face the reigning Class 1 and Class 2 state champions and the Class 3 state runner-up. 

The Bulldogs regularly “play up” against Class 3, 4, and 5 teams. This year, those matchups include Southern Boone and Moberly, and another close rival, Hallsville. Harrisburg hosted the Indians for the home opener on Tuesday after the Advertiser went to press.

Harrisburg’s own tournament boasts large schools such as Hallsville, Fulton, Centralia, Blair Oaks, and Mexico.

This season also marks the last for Harrisburg as a member of the Lewis & Clark Conference. A full member since 2017, the Bulldogs will leave the L&C with Fayette to form a new conference, the Central State 8, with six other area teams.

“We’re excited about the new conference for sure,” Fisher said. “We lose some traditional rivalries with schools such as Salisbury. But we keep the one with Fayette. We’ll form some new rivalries with some new schools. It’s bittersweet, but we’re going to go out and put on a good showing this year in the last year of the conference.”

But some rivalries will stay alive. Harrisburg makes a return to the Glasgow Tournament after a nine-year absence. Seeded second, the Bulldogs take on seventh-seeded Fayette in the opening round at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28. A win would likely pit Harrisburg against third-seeded Glasgow, which finished fourth in the Class 1 state tournament a year ago and returns one of the area’s premier players in Jordan Fuemmeler.

Fellow conference schools Westran and Marceline, and former L&C team Slater, are also tournament mainstays.

Fisher said the reason Harrisburg left the Glasgow Tournament was because it included so many L&C schools, and the Bulldogs wanted to face fresh competition outside of the area. The CS8 will only include Fayette from the old L&C. So, this is a way to keep some of those storied rivalries alive.

“The Glasgow tournament is one of the best tournaments in the state,” Fisher said. “It’s filled with good teams, and the tradition of that tournament is unmatched.”

Returning to the Glasgow Tournament also allows Harrisburg to play in the Norm Stewart Classic at Mizzou Arena. The Bulldogs will face a perennially tough South Iron team, the reigning Class 1 State Champion three years running.

The event coincides with the Centralia Tournament, in which Harrisburg has played for the last several seasons.

The Bulldogs will play their internationally difficult schedule without two of their scoring leaders from last season. Braden Wyatt and Brayden Ott both graduated. The two combined for nearly 30 points a game last year. 

But Harrisburg is hardly without big scorers. Junior Trace Combs averaged 12.8 points and 5.2 rebounds last season. Hayven Samuels, now a senior, scored 12.2 points and led the conference with 3.3 steals a game. They will lead a squad of scrappy players in Harrisburg’s vicious and unmerciful style of play that includes 32 minutes of full-court pressure.

Fisher said he expects Combs to increase his scoring punch and rebounding. “Trace has added some strength and athleticism to his game to hopefully fill some of that void that Brayden Wyatt left behind.”

Starting alongside Combs and Samuels will be point guard Caleb Sager, guard Carter Bremmer, and center Wyatt Lind.

One player the Bulldogs will certainly miss is senior Hunter Cole. While still on the roster, the senior suffered a torn ACL playing football that will sideline him for his final basketball season.

Fisher said a few of his players are still a little banged up from the football season, and he hopes to enter the Christmas break healthy to prepare for a long second half of the season.

“We’re excited about the year,” Fisher said. “We think we have the chance to be really, really good. We have a lot of speed, a lot of athleticism, a lot of strength on our team. If we can figure out how to mold that all together, we have a chance at having a very special year.”