Middle schoolers from Wrangell, Craig, and Klawock descended on Petersburg the weekend of November 15 for the annual Stikine Middle School Basketball Championships. They played more than two dozen games over three days.
Jesse West coaches Petersburg’s middle school boys. He said both the Mitkof Middle School boys’ and girls’ teams played hard, and well, during the tournament. He said often, it’s the first time kids have played against teams from out of town.
“They’re excited and nervous, and most of them get over that within the first quarter that they play,” he said. “They start to kind of warm up to the idea that they’re just playing other kids, even though they’re wearing a different color shirt, and then they just start really having fun and playing basketball.”
There are so many Petersburg basketball players that five Mitkof Middle School teams competed in the tournament. And the Mitkof Middle School boys played the final game of the tournament again – the Mitkof Middle school boys. West said it was fun to watch the game, knowing Petersburg would win no matter what. Mitkof Blue beat Mitkof White with a score of 65-34.
Petersburg girls made it to the finals, playing against Craig for the championship. In what Coach West describes as the best game of the tournament, Craig beat Petersburg in overtime, 29-26.
The tournament marks the end of the middle school basketball season. Next year, Wrangell will host the Stikine Championships.
