Last season marked the first time in over a decade that the Tamaqua boys basketball team reached the District 11 playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

It's something that holds significant importance to Blue Raiders' coach Caszy Kosciolek. It was one of the first thing that the fourth year coached talked about when it came to this year's returning squad.Kosciolek also knows what actions have to be taken on the hardwood to make another trip to the playoffs possible.In order for the Blue Raiders to simply compete in Division I in the Schuylkill League, especially with the likes of Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill, Pottsville and now the addition of Lehighton, Kosciolek wants to create a well-rounded game plan to overcome the obstacles in the league to be able to attain the feat of getting back where they left off a year ago.Kosciolek's task has been made a lot easier knowing all but two players return from last year's squad.Without the likes of Adam Frantz and Zach Wargula, the Blue Raiders welcome back seniors Bo Rottet (last year's TIMES NEWS Player of the Year), Brett Kosciolek, Ben Miller, Tyler Skripko and Nate McDonald, along with seasoned junior Russel Blaker for another year.Sophomore Dylan Scott and freshman Thad Zuber, also are some added assets in completing the task.With these individuals back, and several more to add assistance, Kosciolek is at ease on one side of the ball for sure."I'm not really overly concerned with our offense," Kosciolek said. "I think we have some offensive punch. We have kids that can score on the perimeter. I think we can score on the inside. And, I think we could up the tempo a little bit and score some points in transition."It's obvious the Blue Raiders have a 1-2 punch in Kosciolek and Rottet, as the duo finished with a double-digit scoring average on the year. Kosciolek was first in the TN area with 18.75 points per game, while Rottet sat in fourth with 15.32 average.Despite finishing with a 4.77 ppg mark a year ago, Kosciolek has faith in Blaker to improve on that average this season and make it a potential triple threat for the Blue Raiders when it comes to putting points on the board."We have three kids I think ... Bo, Russel and Brett ... who have the capability to score double digits," Kosciolek said. "If we share the ball, those three are going to have a opportunity to score a lot of points."Kosciolek mentioned some individuals who he feels already have made their mark on the defensive side of the ball."Ben Miller is one of our guards too," Kosciolek said. "He's probably our best perimeter defensive player."Then, there was Skripko, who makes his presence known in the paint. He had some quality minutes against some quality teams, which will give him and a few others a push in the right direction of getting things done for the Blue Raiders on the defensive."Tyler's not going to show up a lot in the boxscores as far as a amount of points, rebounds," Kosciolek said. "He's our most physical kid. He's a real good defender. He does all the little things that makes us complete."Last, but not least, some added height on the defense. While Brett Kosciolek stands tall at 6-feet, 7-inches, Nate McDonald is next best at 6-2."A kid that is going to really help us a lot is Nate McDonald," Kosciolek said. "He gives us some real toughness. He gives us a little more length and he will able to rebound for us and defend for us."And, he's got skill. He can pass the ball. He could score inside for us. So, I think Nate really rounds us off as far as our front line is concerned inside."So, if we can combine the defensive toughness, the defensive mentality, along with our offensive firepower, we have a chance to be a pretty solid team."