Player Spotlight: Weston Rose

WALTONVILLE - The Waltonville Spartans are loaded with talent once again this year as they’re off to a 5-0 start. This team returns most of the roster from last year, but as usual, there are always graduations and transfers. With that, a role in the starting lineup opened up for Waltonville in the off-season. After spending the last few years getting some varsity minutes off of the bench, senior Weston Rose has stepped into the starting role for the state championship-caliber Spartans and hopes to help his team reach their ultimate goal of making it to the state tournament and bringing home the big hardware.

“If you asked me a year ago if I was going to be a starter on this team I would’ve laughed,” said Rose. “Looking ahead to today, it’s a dream come true. Ever since I was young I’ve loved playing basketball. All I wanted to do was be out on the floor with my friends in big games and big moments. Now that I get to do that, it is truly amazing.”

The Spartans are currently ranked #2 in our 1A polls and there’s a lot of reason behind that. The combination of 6’6” senior Gage Peterson and 6’5” junior Jagger Mayville gives Waltonville a scary presence in the paint. At 5’11”, Rose is one of the primary ball handlers for the Spartans. 5’11” junior guard Witten Devor is another guard that brings the ball up for Waltonville. 6’1” senior Riley Stewart is a combo guard with a lot of versatility that rounds out the starting lineup. The scariest part? All of those guys can shoot and are interchangeable in the offense.

“We have guys that can run multiple positions, whether it’s bigs running as guards or the other way around,” stated Rose. “We can cover a lot of ground on the court with our length. Gage (Peterson) and Jagger Mayville are dominating inside and out every night. The Stewart brothers have been amazing defensively and can score at will. We have multiple guards that can handle the ball and make shots. I think we’re going to accomplish great things this season with this group of guys.”

As for any successful basketball program, Rose and his Spartans have their eyes set on the ultimate prize: the 1A state title. The Spartans have come oh so close in the previous two seasons, falling short to Mounds Meridian both times in sectional contests. Many of those kids were sophomores and haven’t quickly forgotten that feeling. This group should be determined to make another deep run in late February.

“I would love to win a state title, but we have to take it one game at a time,” said Rose. “My goal as a team is to do well the rest of the season and take it a game at a time. We of course hope to win a regional, which hopefully leads to winning a sectional and hopefully a trip to state. But the only way we are going to achieve that is by doing what we do best and playing as a team. I’m willing to put everything on the line for my team, especially given it’s my senior season. Sometimes I take a step back and realize that I don’t have much time left in a Spartan uniform. There’s no time to mess around. This is it. It’s time to win.”

You can catch Rose and the undefeated Waltonville Spartans in action tonight as they hit the road to take on conference opponent Sandoval. The JV tip is set for 6:15pm.