Jamin Metzger, Micah Bush and teammates thought they were living a dream when they returned home with their Hills-Beaver Creek football team after winning the nine-man title in the fall.
Fans lined the streets in town to celebrate the team’s first Prep Bowl title since 1990.
So you can imagine the type of crowd that will meet the Patriots when they bring back their Class A basketball championship trophy after Saturday’s convincing 64-33 victory against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton at Williams Arena.
“I think basketball will be bigger,” said Metzger, who led his team with 22 points and 13 rebounds. “Basketball is the first time ever. We’ve had a lot of great teams come through HBC, but it feels good that we’re the ones to finally do it after all these years.”
Hills-Beaver Creek coach Chad Rauk might need time to put it into perspective what it means to have a group of players who won both football and basketball state titles in the same school year.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever see that again,” Rauk said. “Especially at a small school. A Class A school where you can go football and basketball. It just goes to show you that if you get the right players with the right mindset and want put the right work in, the results prove themselves.”
The 6-5, 210-pound Metzger, a Division II Sioux Falls quarterback commit, was too athletic and powerful in the paint to stop for Class A foes this year, which included averaging 18.7 points and 11 rebounds in three state tournament games.
Bush, a 6-1, 175-pound South Dakota State safety recruit, had 10 points and seven rebounds Saturday, but his team-high 20 points led Hills-Beaver Creek past top-seeded Henning 71-67 in overtime in Friday’s semifinals.