The cast may be a bit different, but the expectations remain the same.

Coming off a 17-win season and berths in both the league and district playoffs, the Lehighton boys anticipate being in a similar situation again once February rolls around.

“Our first goal is to get to 11 wins and qualify for districts, but we also want to qualify for the league playoffs,” said head coach Trevor Miller. “We feel like we have a team here that can compete with anybody, so we’re hopeful that we can continue the things that we’ve done here over the last few years and give ourselves an opportunity at the end of the year to play for some championships.”

To do that, the Indians will have to make up for the loss of last year’s leading scorer, their starting point guard and a valuable utility man.

“Joe (Roth) is going to be a very big loss, especially offensively, a guy who every night could go out and give you 15 to 20 (points) and eight to 10 rebounds. That’s hard to replace. We also lost Brayden Johnson, who was our point guard ... And then we lost John Light, who was just kind of a guy that did everything for us. Those are three really big losses for us that we definitely have to fill.”

While the departure of that trio will hurt, the Indians do welcome back a bunch of talent, along with some younger players ready to step up and contribute.

Senior Cole Dietz, who averaged 16.2 points per game a year ago and led the area with 82 three-pointers, returns along with fellow classmate Blake Roberts, who missed the start of last season but averaged 10.7 points once he was back on the court. The two will be the team’s leaders.

“We bring back two of our top three scorers,” said Miller. “We also bring back some guys that got some time last year. And we think they can really help us ... It’s going to be a collective effort. Some of the stuff that (Cole and Blake) can do together with pick-and-rolls and just knowing where each other are on the floor are valuable ... We’re looking at running Cole at the point a little bit more, but we also have a freshman, Aiden McCarroll, who we’re excited about. He ran the point for us over the summer.

“Cole has the ability to handle the ball and shoot from anywhere over halfcourt. His range has really developed ... Blake plays a lot bigger than he is. He’s really physical and strong. He takes up a lot of space. He’s a key guy for us on both ends of the floor. He’s really crafty. He’s also smart, and knows what he can and can’t do. His game has continually developed.”

Seniors Aiden Solt and Caden Meek will see time and do a bit of everything on the floor, especially rebound and play defense, while fellow senior Talin Fairchild is exceptional from the perimeter (39 threes in limited time last season). Junior Tommy Blair could be the most athletic player on the team, and has worked hard over the summer on his shooting.

Sophomore Cash White is physical and will give the team plenty of minutes, and frosh Quinn Heimbach is developing his game and could be an athletic presence on defense. Sophomore Braylen Hunsicker could also see time, providing help at the defensive end.

“One of our biggest focuses is we have to focus on the defensive end to be successful. (On offense), teams have (tried to take away Cole for three years now). And nothing’s going to change with that. Guys have to step up, and we’ve talked about that a lot. We have to pick up some production that we’ve lost and when teams try to take away Cole or Blake, somebody else has to step up. That’s going to be a big key for us.”