Two of the biggest impact receivers for Tommy Weidler’s Nedrose football team will enter the 2021-22 winter basketball season ready to see a similar increase in their respective roles on the court.

“They’re going to be the heart and soul of our team,” Cardinals boys’ basketball head coach Matt Norby said of senior Joe Roberts and junior Mitch Heinert.

Roberts and Heinert, a wideout and tight end, respectively, in the fall, both produced 190-plus-yard seasons receiving on the gridiron for a Cardinals team that authored its second straight winning season and earned a postseason berth after a 5-3 campaign.

Following the graduation of five seniors a year ago, Norby is expecting more of the same and then some from the duo on the hardwood as Nedrose aims for a return to the Region 6 tournament in three short months.

The Cardinals missed regionals altogether last year after falling in the tournament’s first round in 2020. Norby’s group most recently wrapped up an 8-12 campaign with a regional qualifying defeat at the hands of a Bottineau Braves team that would advance as far as the region title game. He and his players are not satisfied with their finishes the past two seasons.

“We just had a couple things happen at the end of the year,” Norby recalled. “We had one of our guys tear his ACL in the week leading up, that kind of hurt us. I think we fell short. We expected more of ourselves, but we’ll do better this year.”

Marshall Vallie’s torn ACL dealt a significant blow to Nedrose’s postseason hopes as the then-senior was one of the Cardinals’ better shooters with a made field goal rate over 30 percent. The team’s ‘next man up’ mentality was tested following Vallie’s injury, but Nedrose could not overcome the Braves with a ticket to regionals on the line.

With the quintet of seniors since departed, Norby’s crew has an opportunity to re-write its identity, and the head coach is optimistic about its chances for a return to the Region 6 dance.

“I think that’s a pretty realistic goal for us,” he said. “This is probably one of the more talented teams I’ve had. It’s just all about how far we want to go, a little bit of self-motivation for this team. They have to push themselves a little bit.”

The Cardinals have placed an added emphasis on improving their performance on the defensive end of the floor, with a focus on their on-ball and help-side defense.

The squad hopes the added boost will supplement the team’s solid foundation on offense and in the rebound game. Heinert’s imposing 6’4″ frame went a long way in helping to lead the team on the glass last season, when he grabbed 67 rebounds in his 19 games.

“Using the athleticism that we have with these young guys to translate into good on-ball defense will be the most important thing,” Heinert said.

Nedrose’s tightly-knit bond off the court will also pay dividends for its in-game performance, Norby hopes, as the coach made a point to describe the team’s approach as that of a family.

“This group is very close, they do things on and off the floor together,” he continued. “I think they have to motivate each other a little bit, I think that’s going to be one of our things that we’re trying to find, who wants to push themselves to be the best they can be.”

Behind a somewhat unpredictable nature to start the season, Roberts added, the Cardinals believe they have the pieces in place to take another step forward in a competitive Region 6, beginning with their Dec. 13 season-opener at the Velva Invitational.

“A lot of these guys didn’t play varsity minutes last year, so I mean other teams won’t really know what they’re going up against until we play a couple of games,” Roberts said. “I think it’s going to be a little bit hard to predict what we do in the first couple of games.”