By ELI LUTGENS
Publisher/Editor
The NRHEG boys' basketball team celebrated the end of a challenging season last Tuesday evening. Head coach Dan Schmidt started the program by thanking a lot of folks:
JV coach Aaron Gilliland; Tyler Schlaak with C-squad; Jake Stork with the 8th grade; Joe Isder coaching 7th grade; Dan Stork, Teri Kormann, and Sue Kulseth for their help throughout the season; the janitors for all the hard work they do;. Mark Domeier, Grant Berg, and Larry Nydegger for their work on game nights; Collin Zidlicky and the band; the cheerleaders; and Patty Stencel for doing the book.
Despite the team’s 3-24 record, Schmidt highlighted his players for their hard work and dedication. He specifically mentioned the improvement the players made throughout the season.
“If you watched us against Blue Earth in early December, and then against St Clair the last week of February, you would see that this was a vastly different team,” Schmidt said. “I’m very proud of the work that these guys put in, and that they never quit, even if it looked like it would’ve been easier to do so.”
Some highlights from this season included victories over Medford and Blooming Prairie.
“The Blooming game was a great gut check game as we jumped out to a good lead, watched them battle back to tie the game, and we never wavered and hung on to win,” Schmidt recalled. “Daxter Lee hit 40 against Triton, and Will Tuttle rattled off three straight double-doubles and 4 in 5 games, with 18 points 19 rebounds against Medford, 10 and 16 against WEM, 19 and 10 against USC, and 12 and 14 against JWP.
“We also threw some demands at them in the classroom, and they responded to that as well,” Schmidt added.
The following players received the MSHSL Academic and All-Conference Academic awards for a GPA of 3.0 or above and for conference 3.5 and above: Sawyer Prigge (MSHSL), Levin Kitzer (MSHSL, AC), Sam Olson (MSHSL, AC), Jaylin Raab (MSHSL, AC), Alden Dobberstein (MSHSL, AC), and Jordan Brouwers (MSHSL).
“I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to start my coaching career,” Schmidt concluded. “I’d like to close by congratulating the girls basketball team, wrestling, and cheer squads on great seasons this year. You all represent the Panthers well.”
Awards
The following awards were handed out:
Gopher Conference Sportsmanship Award: Prigge
All-Conference Award (2nd Team AC): Lee who finished fourth in the conference in scoring, 9th in assists, 7th in steals, and 8th in 3-pointers.
Panther Award: Dylan Ingvaldson
Most Improved: Jase Knudson
Defensive MVP: Knudson
Team MVP: Lee who led the team in scoring with 18.5 ppg, as well as: assists, and steals, and Lee also took the most charges during the season.