Night in and night out, the Sioux Fall Christian Chargers played the toughest of teams.
And every night the Chargers left the gym, they left knowing they had just played some of the best teams in the state…and walked away with more than their fair share of victories.
“That is always a goal is to play a challenging schedule,” Head Coach Mike Schouten said. “This year was no different. Four double schools. We like that challenge and it prepares us for the state tournament.”
The Chargers suffered an early season loss to O’Gorman, but then quickly bounced back and got a win against St. Thomas More…but that was just the start for SFC’s success.
Soon after Christmas break, the Chargers grabbed two more wins against Dell Rapids and Mitchell, both state qualifying teams. They lost by 13 to Vermillion on January 21st, but that didn’t stop any of their momentum. After all, the Chargers had reached the state tournament last season before the cancellation of the tournament, and had one goal in mind: a trip to PREMIER Center.
“When we went into the season, I thought we had a chance to get into the state tournament. We had a good group of players back,” Schouten said. “Our seniors, they missed out on that opportunity to miss out as juniors, a couple got an opportunity as sophomore but they definitely wanted to get back.”
But even after picking up more wins, including Dakota Valley, Madison and Tea Area, maybe no game quite showed the Chargers they were ready for state tournament than a two-point overtime loss against Western Christian.
Western Christian won the Iowa Class 2A Championship, and after that game, the Chargers knew they were poised for a tournament appearance according to Schouten.
Now the Chargers will prepare for a tough St. Thomas More team. SFC lost to S. Thomas More by nine points at the Sioux Falls Pentagon on December 30th, but the two teams have now gone through the trials of the regular season, so both opponents expect a battle of well-poised teams.”
“Expect it to be a really tough game again,” Schouten said of the matchup.
The Chargers will play St. Thomas More at 2:30 p.m. today at the PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls.
