Recap of Boys Basketball State and Semifinals

On Friday March 17th, and Saturday March 18th, the Arrowhead boys basketball team went to Madison to play in the Division 1 Semifinals and State Championship.

The boys won on Friday against Neenah by 73-61, however, they lost on Saturday to DePere by 20. The final score of that match was 69-49. 

Bennett Basich, a junior and starting shooting guard on the basketball team said, “The challenge we faced when playing Neenah Friday was they started 5 guards which was hard for our bigs to guard. This allowed them to expose this mismatch on offense. It led to them getting easy baskets and us having to switch up who everyone was guarding at times. Saturday our challenge was how well De Pere sank into help positions, everytime we would drive to the rim they would collapse on us. This flustered some of our guys and turned into a lot of turnovers on our end.”

Arrowhead’s last time winning a State Championship was 2010 while DePere’s last time clinching a championship was in 1935. 

Olivia Morse, an Arrowhead Junior said, “It was a decent amount of energy.” Referring to the student section. 

The Gators are Arrowhead’s student section leaders. The Gators for the 2022-23 year are: Nathaniel Moore, Riley Neville, Sam Neubert, Sydney Snedden, Nolan Wilde, and Lily Wood. 

The Gators lead chants throughout the games and students are able to come up with their favorite ones. 

Morse said, “The color chant is always a classic.” 

The color chant is led by the cheerleaders but the Gators help get students to participate in it.

The students were rallying both nights for Arrowhead to win on Friday but more importantly for the State Championship.

Cormac Wrecke, a senior who played another guard on the basketball team said, “I feel like we were supported extremely well by the students and families. The whole week the parents made it so we felt like we were having a special week with team dinners and activities. There were so many students at the games in Madison it was such a cool environment.”

Sophie Nowak, a junior, viewed the game online. Nowak said, “I thought they played really well Friday and I knew DePere was going to a good game regardless but I was hoping if they didn’t win it would be really close and fun. That was a little sad for them.”

Arrowhead played a strong game but unfortunately only one team can come on top. Other components of the game included the Band, the Cheerleaders, and the Hawkettes.

Kasia Lecaire, an Arrowhead senior, shared her experience of what it was like to be drum major during the semifinals.

Lecaire said, “I got to conduct the entire pep band for the majority of everything.” 

The pep band is the band that performs at pep rallies, football, and basketball games. 

The Hawkettes and Cheerleaders also perform during those events.

Brooke Haffermann, an Arrowhead senior who was on the Hawkettes shared her favorite part of performing. 

Haffermann said, “Being able to dance with all my close friends and having the adrenaline rush was my favorite part.”