PLAINS – Sports teams across Sanders County are gearing up for the upcoming winter sports season.

Though practices do not start until Thursday, Nov. 20, teams across the county are already looking forward to the start of a brand new season of competitive high school athletics.

The Plains Horsemen basketball team will bring substantial veteran leadership into this year’s campaign and the team hopes to build off of this solid basis through the winter sports season.

According to Plains Head Coach Carl Benson, seven seniors have singed up for this year’s season.

Benson added in total 23 students are signed up for the season, though he will have an exact number after the team’s preseason meeting during the week.

The head coach stated he was looking forward to this season and noted the kids bring a lot of positive energy to the basketball court.

“We got a great group of kids. They are fun to work with and they have a positive attitude,” Benson said.

Some members of the Horsemen basketball team got some experience for the upcoming season during the summer months.

Benson said the team took part in a summer tournament in Superior and played a couple scrimmages against area teams including Thompson Falls and St. Regis during the summer months.

Though Benson did not coach the Horsemen’s varsity squad last year, he coached the junior varsity team; the Plains High School science teacher brings quite a bit of experience to his current position.

Benson started coaching the boy’s squad in 1987 and has coached the sport at Plains for 13 years, taking a hiatus in the middle of his time as a teacher at the school.

The boy’s first practice of the year is schedule for Thursday, Nov. 20 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Practice for the Trotters basketball team will occur a little earlier in the evening and is schedule from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Plains High School gymnasium.

The Horsemen will have some early home games this season as the squad will serve as hosts for the Sanders County Invitational.

The tournament will be held on Friday, Dec. 12 and Saturday Dec. 13 at Plains High School.