Petersburg’s high school basketball teams finished the season in Ketchikan last week. The Vikings and Lady Vikings played their last games in the regional tournament, which decided what teams qualified for the state championship.
Even though Petersburg’s teams won’t be competing at state this year, their coaches are proud of the players’ growth since the season started.
The Petersburg boys varsity team played four games: starting strong with a win against Craig (41-34), then a loss against Metlakatla (30-53), a win against Haines (28-26), and lastly losing to Wrangell (35-48) — which put them in third place for the tournament.
Vikings coach Rick Brock said playing that much intense basketball wore the team down by the end of the tournament. But overall, he said he saw “huge” growth for the team this season.
“You know, from where this group started at the beginning of the year to how we finished — man … I’m not sure I’ve had a team that has improved that much,” he said.
Brock believes the players have grown more confident, having stayed the course.
“I think they feel good about themselves. As time goes, they’ll feel better and better,” Brock said. “Years later, when they’re telling their stories of playing high school basketball, they’ll be able to reflect on this and tell them a good story.”
While the Vikings placed third at regionals, the Lady Vikings placed fifth.
Girls varsity coach Matt Pawuk said players were out of practice due to a sweeping case of influenza that “ripped through” the team in the days leading up to regionals.
Their final opponent this year was Craig, which Pawuk said is always a physical competition. That aggressiveness was something the Lady Vikings tried working on throughout this season — all leading up to that last game.
Pawuk said a spark ignited in the team during the last half, and they pushed back. Even though it wasn’t enough to overcome their deficit on the scoreboard, Pawuk told the team he’d never been more proud of them.
“There were a lot of emotions in the locker room after the game. And I told the girls, like, this is what a good season should feel like when it ends,” Pawuk said. “The girls wanted to play another game … they weren’t ready for their season to be done, which … is an indication that we’ve had a good year, when the girls just want it to keep going.”
Pawuk said players who will return to the team next year are already looking forward to it, and he hopes that the graduating seniors will be able to look back fondly and feel proud of how they represented Petersburg on the basketball court.
“It was definitely bittersweet,” he said.
Petersburg High School received the regional award for sportsmanship, which goes to both basketball teams, the pep band and cheerleaders all together. Coaches said they’re happy Petersburg was recognized for its spirit of competition, and for all the players who earned individual awards as well.
