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The St. Francis High School Saints boys basketball team celebrate its victory over the Andover Huskies to win the Section 7AAAA championship on March 7. The win over Andover lead to an appearance at the Minnesota State High School League state basketball tournament for the first time since 2000. This year’s team, which included 10 senior players, finished the season with a 24-6 record. Overall, the four levels of boys’ teams finished with 100 wins and 12 losses (Junior Varsity 23-1; Sophomores 20-2; Freshmen Submitted Photo 33-3).
April What’s Inside Schools in Action..........................................2 School Board Highlights......................... 11 Community Education............................ 12 Easter Happenings.................................... 17 Community & Business........................... 20 Spring Recycling........................................ 25 Sports & Outdoors.................................... 31 Life.................................................................. 34 Classified....................................................... 35
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Saints boys basketball team makes first state tournament appearance since 2000 been one of the better halves of basketball we played all year in terms of our combination of offense and defense.” Four players scored in double figures for the Saints with Johnson and junior Blake Moreno scoring 19 each. Sharpshooters Svihel and senior Bryce Kulsrud chipped in 12 and 10 points respectively. This victory set up a rematch of the Saints loss in the 2013 sections to Andover. The Huskies entered section play as the number two seed with three players returning from the 2013 state tournament team. The Saints came out flying and built a 19-3 lead behind the inside game of Moreno and Johnson. Stellar defense and strong rebounding throughout the first half enabled the Saints to take a 26-12 lead at the halftime break. Andover made several runs at the Saints in the second half but Kulsrud and Austin Carlson made key three-point shots to hold off any Andover run. The Saints never led by less than 10 the entire game and the student chant of “we are going to state” began with 45 seconds to go on the clock. The Section 7AAAA championship was the culmination of years of hard work by the junior and senior classes. Four years ago the boys program had only five wins. Last year the win total grew to 17 and this year the Saints entered the state tournament with a 24-5 record. In the state tournament, the Saints were not seeded and drew Cretin-Derham Hall, who had just knocked off number one ranked Apple Valley in their section final game. The students, parents, fans and pep band were fired up for the first state appearance in 14 years. The Saints led for the majority of the first half before a 14-0 run during the last three minutes of the first half, which gave Cretin a 32-23 halftime lead. The Saints battled back in the second half to get within four points behind three three-pointers by Kulsrud and the inspired play of senior Karl Morrison off the bench. Cretin finished strong and defeated the Saints 69-53. Senior captain Cody Wald said, “We worked hard to get St. Francis High School back in the state tournament. I wish the outcome would have been different, but I’m proud of the season we had. We will always be a state tournament team; nobody can take that away from us.” Head Coach Ryan Hauge added, “The support of our students and community has been outstanding. St. Francis High School was represented well by our team, students and the entire community. I’m proud to be a Saint.”
Jeff Fink SFHS Activities Director
a division of Independent School District 15 Community Education | St. Francis, Minnesota
April 2014 | Volume 21, Issue 9
PAGE 13
The St. Francis High School boys basketball team’s march through Section 7AAAA was anything but FREE easy. The Saints were the number one seed in Section 7AAAA, but they were in 2013 also and came to understand that a number one seed does not guarantee a trip to the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) state basketball tournament. Head Coach Ryan Hauge stated, “We had a much more difficult schedule this year with additional games against Hopkins and Shakopee and two games against Buffalo that helped prepare us for the section tournament.” Hopkins, Shakopee and Buffalo all qualified for the state tournament. The Saints began section play with a quarterfinal 77-65 victory over Coon Rapids. Senior Jake Johnson led the Saints with 28 points and Nate Svihel added 16 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the three-point line. In the semifinals, the Saints trailed Blaine 31-25 at half, but roared back to a 68-54 victory. Assistant Coach Matt Norton added, “The second half might have
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