As part of the annual basketball battles between Washington and Mid-Prairie on Monday night, there will be a showdown on the court between two of the best wheelchair basketball players in Washington County-and a pair of rookies.

Washington activities director Nathan Miller will team up with Demon junior Josh Anderson against Mid-Prairie activities director Pete Cavanagh and Golden Hawk senior Jayden Stafford in a two-on-two wheelchair game during halftime of the girls’ varsity contest. Miller explains how they decided to put this game on.

“Denise Erpelding presented an idea,” Miller says, “and I said ‘Yeah, I’d be all for it.’ She talked with Josh a little bit and then was going to contact Pete to see if he was also up for a fun challenge.”

Cavanagh is, and he says it’s a great opportunity to highlight two outstanding athletes in Stafford and Anderson, who don’t always get to play in front of their hometown fans. Miller agrees.

“It’s great for our community [and] great for the student body to see Jayden,” Cavanagh says. “A lot of his basketball tournaments, a lot of them are pretty far away, so his classmates and community can’t see him play. So I think it’s a great opportunity to get out there and have some fun and for Jayden to show how good he is.”

“Here we are now,” Miller says, “with a fun event to highlight and cheer them on and support them in their endeavors.”

Stafford and Anderson are teammates on the Iowa Grizzlies, a member team of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. Stafford, who is committed to play basketball at Wisconsin-Whitewater next year, says he’s excited about the opportunity, and Anderson agrees.

“I think it’s the best thing ever,” Stafford says, “to get to play with my teammate and show, not only are we playing against each other, but what we can actually do together, too.”

“Me and Jayden, we like to get after it,” Anderson says. “We’re competitive ourselves.”

As for their new inexperienced teammates, Stafford and Anderson say they’re not worried about having to coach them up a bit.

“You just let it go,” Stafford says, “and hope that they have fun and hope they’re not too sore the next day.”

“We’re going to go for it,” Anderson says. “We’re going to have fun.”

In addition to playing basketball, Anderson and Stafford have combined to win well over 20 state track and field medals during their high school careers. You can catch the doubleheader as well as the wheelchair game between Washington and Mid-Prairie on KCII, starting with pregame coverage just after 5 p.m. Monday.