Laingsburg brothers leading Wolfpack to historic season

LAINGSBURG, Mich. (WILX) - According to our unofficial records, the Laingsburg boy’s basketball team’s 11-0 start is the best since 1997.

But head coach Daniel Morrill’s Wolfpack isn’t paying attention.

They’re hardly aware of their historic start.

“I think that got spoken at some point. So we would have to do a little fact check on that,” Morrill said laughing. “That’s nothing that I spend time thinking about for sure.”

Laingsburg is winning on the backs of two brothers.

Senior Eli Woodruff and junior brother Zander are Living out a childhood dream now on their varsity team.

“Growing up, we definitely knew my senior year, his junior year was gonna be our best year of basketball together,” Eli said. “We’ve definitely been looking forward to this year for most of our lives.”

After years of backyard hoops, they know each other’s games inside and out.

“We’re always looking for each other,” Zander said. “Always looking for him to pass me the ball or always looking for me to pass him the ball.”

That said, while right now they’re teammates, at the end of the day, they’re still siblings, who, like any, still like to go at it.

“I think sometimes the living room stuff comes into practice good and bad. They obviously care tremendously about each other but they’re also very competitive,” Morrill said about managing the interesting dynamic. “We have to remind them that they’re teammates also, not just brothers. So to take care of each other too, but the truth is it’s awesome.”

While they don’t compare stats, it’s Zander who leads the scoring.

But that’s not important to either.

Whatever they can do to win, they’re doing. And so far 11 games in, it seems to be working.

“It’s cool to have those accolades definitely but all I want to do is win the game,” Zander said. “I’m just doing whatever can help my team win the game if that’s scoring two points a game or if that’s scoring25, 30, it don’t matter. I just want to win.”

It’s been 10 years since Laingsburg’s last state title appearance.

Eli and Zander know their school’s history and are hopeful to be the newest bunch to make a trip back to the Breslin.

“When we were growing up when we were all in elementary school, one of the Laingsburg teams actually made it to the state championship,” Eli said. “So we all remember going to those games. We’ve all dreamed about playing there ever since then.”

At 11-0, Laingsburg will put its unblemished record on the line Jan. 27 in a CMAC clash on the road at Saranac.

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