Old School Rivalry Night

Although Soda Springs and Grace have not participated in the same conference in almost 15 years, this Caribou County rivalry continues to draw attention from residents of both communities. The residents of Caribou County cross paths on a daily basis and for the most part are very friendly and work together for the greater good.  However when the local high schools face off for basketball, lines are clearly drawn as co-workers, friends, and in some cases families will choose sides.  This particular match up on each team's schedule will draw some of the biggest crowds that they play in front of every year.  This was the case last Wednesday as the Grizzlies and the Cardinals faced off in the Grizzly Den at Grace high school.  These two ball clubs had faced off earlier in the season on the Cardinals home court.  In that contest the Cardinals hot shooting would propel Soda Springs to the victory over Grace by a score of 67-54.  The Grizzlies would hope that this time things would be different.  By the time the National Anthem had been played and the starting lineups announced the gym was filled to near capacity.  Both student sections were in full voice throughout the game with their chants and cheers as they looked to participate in any way that they could.  It was an electric environment.  

As the game began the Cardinals looked very fast and aggressive as they quickly jumped out to a 8-0 lead.  This would cause Grace to take a timeout just two minutes into the game.  It would be the first of many timeouts taken by both teams.  Out of the timeout the Grizzlies would claw their way back into the game and trim the deficit to just a single point before the Cardinals would use their first timeout.  The final three minutes of the quarter would be a defensive battle with Grace scoring one more basket and taking their first lead in the game at 9-8.  

As the second quarter started the play began to pick up and the physicality increased.  Both teams would see some of their top scorers struggle in this quarter.  For the Grizzlies Kai Clegg was benched as he faced some early foul trouble.  The Cardinals meanwhile would see Cooper Thompson go scoreless due to tight defense by Grace.  Each team would need someone else to step up.  For Grace that would be Chase Smith and Rayff Jorgensen who would combine for 11 points in the quarter.  On the Cardinals side of the ball it would be Quinten Hansen and Ryker Tingey who would combine for 10 of the 12 points put up by Soda Springs in the quarter.  The Grizzlies would outpace the Cardinals and take a halftime lead of 26-20.  

It would be Grace that would get the hot start in the second half as they would go on a 7-0 run to start the 3rd quarter.  From there the teams would battle back and forth calling timeouts trying to gain what advantage they could.  As the 3rd quarter would finish it would find the Grizzlies keeping their 13 point lead that they gained after the early run after halftime.  

In the fourth quarter both coaches would do their best to work the three man officiating crew to make their desired calls.  In the end Soda was unable to dig out of the double digit hole they were in and with around a minute left in the game Coach Fuechsel would put in the second string and Coach Lloyd would follow suit.  The Grizzlies were able to even up the series this year as they grabbed the victory 63-48. 

Scoring -

Soda Springs - Q. Hansen 20, Cooper Thompson 8, R. Tingey 7, Caleb Thompson 4, D. Dockstader 4, T. Stephens 3, J. Lee 2. 1st Q - 8, 2nd Q - 12, 3rd Q - 13, 4th Q - 15.

Grace - K. Clegg 15, J. Clegg 14, R. Jorgensen 13, C. Smith 8, B. Kimball 6, B. Sorenson 4, E. Lloyd 3. 1st Q - 9, 2nd Q - 17, 3rd Q - 20, 4th Q - 17.

Each team will be in conference play to finish off their regular season before entering district tournament play.  The Grizzlies will play Alturas Prep at home on Tuesday, February 6th and finish the season at home against district rival Butte County on Saturday, February 10th.  Soda Springs will travel to Aberdeen on Tuesday, February 6th, and then wrap things up at home with a game that could decide who would enter the district tournament as the number one seed against their district rival West Side, on Thursday, February 8th.