Cardinals Earn Consolation Championship

For the first time since 2016 the Soda Springs Cardinals qualified to play games in the state tournament last weekend.  The Cardinals made the trip to Boise where they would play at Capital High School in the 3A classification bracket.  The recently combined fourth and fifth district conference was represented by three teams in the tournament with Declo and Wendell joining Soda Springs.  All three teams had terrific tournaments with Declo and Wendell making it to the championship game where Wendell won the state championship.  The Cardinals missed out on their chance at earning a spot in the championship by the slimmest of margins.  The way that the tournament bracket is set up you must win your first game to have any shot at going to the title game.  That is where Soda Springs slipped up.

The Cardinals entered the tournament as the number five seed and were matched up against the fourth seeded Ambrose Archers.  Ambrose came into state as the defending champions.  The Archers had a slight advantage in size underneath but the quickness of the Cardinals would help offset that throughout this round one game.  It was evident early on in this game that the officials were going to let the players play, so to speak.  In other words things were going to be physical.  The aggressive play forced the players to play through contact and it kept the game close.  The first two quarters of play saw the score almost mirror itself with Soda earning a two point lead after one and Ambrose coming back to take a one point lead into the halftime break.  Out of the halftime break after trading baskets the Archers went on a nine to zero run and looked like they may pull away.  The Cardinals were not going down easy however as they would go on a run of their own eventually knotting the game up.  Some late foul shots would end up giving the Archers the one point lead again going into the final period.  The Archers first five shots would come from downtown, once again giving the Archers a solid lead.  After giving Ambrose a large lead more disaster would strike for the Cardinals when starting post player Konner McWilliams was forced out of the game with a concussion at about the four minute mark.  Now without their best inside weapon the Cardinals would have to dig deep to get back into the game with limited time remaining.  Still trailing by double digits with just three minutes left in the game the Cardinals made one final push.  Soda was able to get the lead to just two points with just seconds remaining and the ball in their hands.  A last second drive by Thompson saw the ball get knocked away on a runner from the foul line.  The Cardinals wanted a foul called but it wasn’t coming and Soda Springs dropped game one of the tournament 54-56.  

The Cardinals were now eliminated from any chance at winning a state championship.  Their only hope for bringing home any sort of trophy now relied on them winning their next two games.  First up on the consolation side of the bracket for the Cardinals were the Orofino Maniacs.  The Maniacs entered the contest as the lowly eight seed in the tournament.  Though the Cardinals were the favorites in the matchup they did struggle some in the first half.  After building a six point lead to end the first quarter the Cardinals stumbled in the second.  The Maniacs outscored Soda Springs by ten in the second period and took the lead into the halftime break.  The Cardinals battled back in the third period but the game remained close with Soda Springs retaking a two point lead to enter the final period.  The fourth period was a crucial one.  The loser of this game would see their season end and be sent home.  The scrappy Cardinals answered the call and outscored Orofino by seven taking the win 65-56.  The Cardinals survived six lead changes in the game and advanced to the consolation championship.

The consolation championship featured the Cardinals and the New Plymouth Pilgrims.  Ironically the two teams faced each other in the final game of the season after starting the season facing each other.  The Cardinals were the Pilgrims first game of the year while it was just Soda’s second game of the season.  Soda Springs handed the Pilgrims a seventeen point loss in that early season match up but things would be much different this time around.  Both teams had seen significant growth over the season improving with each week.  Unfortunately for the Cardinals in the season finale they were still without McWilliams who had not been able to return to play since the opening round concussion injury.  That was a great advantage for the Pilgrims who featured the tallest pair of underneath players in the classification.  The Cardinals would once again have to combat size with speed and quickness in this game.  As things got rolling the Cardinals got off to a cold start.  Their first points did not come until almost four minutes had ticked off of the clock.  After the first period of play Soda Springs had managed to only make two field goals one each from Thompson and Hansen.  The Cardinals were able to keep things close by adding six free throws but still trailed after the first by six points.  The Cardinals started the second quarter off with a bang.  By turning up the energy and applying a solid press the Cardinals earned their first lead of the game at the 5:10 mark of the second period.  Even though the lead did not last long the Cardinals were back into the game.  Scoring struggles still hung around for most of the Cardinals.  By halftime the duo of Thompson and Hansen had all but two of the Cardinals twenty-three points.  Soda Springs headed to the halftime break trailing by four.  Soda Springs kept up the intensity despite several big plays including some dunks from the Pilgrims.  With 3:20 remaining in the third the Cardinals gained their second lead of the game.  By the end of the quarter Soda had made their first three point shot of the game and had built a five point lead while adding two more players to the scoring column.  The Cardinals would not look back in the fourth.  They used foul shots to their advantage and hit a couple more three point shots.  As the final buzzer sounded the Cardinals were up by seven and had earned their first boys state trophy in nine years.  The Cardinals graduate four great players in Jacobson, Kirby, Stoor and Billman but have a strong group of juniors and sophomores returning for next season.  Cardinal fans should be excited about the future of Soda Springs basketball.

Cardinals 11 8 16 19 54

Archers 9 11 16 20 56

K.Kirby 2, C.Thompson 25, G.Hansen 8, K.McWilliams 4, P.Ozburn 9, D.Billman 6

Cardinals 20 8 20 17 65

Maniacs 14 18 14 10 56

K.Kirby 10, C.Thompson 24, G.Hansen 14, D.Stoor 6, P.Ozburn 9, D.Billman 2

Cardinals 10 13 16 17 56

Pilgrims 16 11 7 15 49

K.Kirby 2, C.Thompson 26, G.Hansen 14, D.Stoor 2, P.Ozburn 10, D.Billman 2