On Tuesday, December 3rd, the South High boys basketball teams had their home opening games facing Fridley High School, with varsity winning 61-57 in an exhilarating and tense fight both on the court as well as in the stands. While the team has had its ups and downs the past couple years, as most teams do, with seniors leaving, last year they had a very eventful season, making it to state and ending with an amazing game but a very emotional loss to Alexandria Area High School. This year, after losing nearly a full roster of seniors from last year, the only returning varsity player being senior Eugene Brown, and being a very young team with only 4 seniors, spectators weren’t exactly sure how this game would go. However, we now have a glimpse into what the team can already do and what they need to work on this season.
As they prepared with practices and tryouts, junior Greg Johnson says “We’ve been pretty locked in. We won a lot of preseason games, we’ve got a lot of chemistry, and we are all close with each other.” Head coach, Joe Hyser, has had a lot of experience in his position and is very familiar with the constant rotation of players, so he is aware of the possible circumstances his team will face throughout this season. Hyser says “When you get a whole new team and 10 seniors graduated from last year’s team, only one player comes back. We are going to have challenges that face players who don’t have very much experience.” One of the new players is senior Liam Johnson and he describes that leading up to the game he was less confident about how they would perform as a team. Being a fresh face he hadn’t participated in the preseason games, not having much experience playing with the team. “We didn’t have a great idea on how the season was actually going to go, but based on the first game, I’m feeling good about it.”
Typical at high-energy sports matches, many spectators were chanting- both encouraging and discouraging things, for their own team as well as the opposing team. As the game began, it was looking like Fridley might have the upper hand, ending the first half with a lead of 33-25. Then, as the second half began, it was clear that the energy South was bringing had changed on the court. Coming neck-to-neck in the last 10 minutes, the tensions were rising between players as well as with spectators. All of a sudden in the last 6 minutes, an escalated situation broke out, with two spectators starting to become violent. As staff worked to de-escalate and a time-out was called, Joe Hyser explains how he kept his players focused on the game. “I saw all of our kids’ heads turn, but I just got them right back, refocused. To their credit, they just focused right in, and that told me something about them.” Once the altercation settled down, the game started right back up and as Fridley rushed to fight back on the scoreboard, they seemed distracted by the situation which was apparent in their playing. “Because from that point on, you know, we just took control of the game. And a lot of that had to do with them being focused.” Hyser states.
Looking forward to the rest of the season, as L. Johnson puts it, “We definitely have some big shoes to fill from last year, the state-run, which was huge. We’re looking to have a repeat this year, and I think everyone on the team is thinking we have the potential to do it.” With the results and energy of the first game in mind, Hyser thinks the following season can only get better, “We didn’t play very clean last night, you know, a lot of mistakes. But again, the thing that was impressive and carried us through, and what we are going to need because we’re going to be playing against some teams that are much better than what we faced, is perseverance and resilience.” While an obvious goal for their season is to continue to win, G. Johnson also hopes to “keep having fun” and says they are going to be taking it “one game at a time”.
As players, coaches, and spectators alike anxiously wait to see what the team has in store, coach Hyser shares wisdom with the players who are preparing to step up and play a successful season, “Mistakes are fine, but you learn from them and you get ready for the next play. Because if you dwell on your mistakes and what happened previously, then you’ll never be able to make the plays as they’re happening in the past.
