Cardinals Pick Up Two Emotional Wins

The Cardinals boys basketball team had two games last week.  Soda Springs started by hosting the Grace Grizzlies on Thursday night.  At the risk of once again repeating myself whenever these two schools meet on the court no matter the sport you should be ready for some potential drama.  The Cardinals entered the contest with a 5-4 record while the Grizzlies came in under five hundred with a 4-8 record.  Logic would say that the Cardinals should have been double digit favorites in the matchup but again things are never logical when these teams meet.  In the grand scheme of things the game itself is not that critical to either team’s conference standings but bragging rights are a powerful motivator in these games.  In addition to the high emotions both teams were also dealing with injuries.  The already short handed Grizzlies saw one of their two way JV/Varsity players go down in the JV game.  The Grace coaching staff had hoped to use the young Carter Mecham to counter the speed and quickness of the Cardinals guards but he would be forced to sit the game out with a banged up leg.  Even more detrimental was the loss of Konner McWilliams to the Cardinals.  McWilliams had exited the Cardinals previous game against West Side with an ankle injury and would be forced to sit out both games last week for Soda Springs.  The loss of McWilliams meant that the Cardinals would have to lean on some of their younger players to combat the physical underneath play of Parker Yost and Chase Smith from the Grizzlies.  So the stage was set and with one of the largest crowds of the year for either team the Cardinals and Grizzlies put on a show.

 Right off the bat each team’s leading scorer got to work as the teams began trading blows.  By the end of the first quarter the Cardinals had earned a slim two point lead.  Soda Springs’ Cooper Thompson was off to a solid start with six points that was matched by Grace’s Parker Yost.  In the second quarter of play the Cardinals did a better job of spreading the ball around while limiting the Grizzly’s top players.  Soda Springs had six different players score in the quarter while growing their lead from two up to nine at the halftime break.  In the third quarter the Grizzlies would start to battle their way back into the game and would do it primarily from the foul line.  The Cardinals sent the Grizzlies to the foul line for seven shots and Grace hit every one of them.  The Cardinals were perfect from the line as well in the quarter going four for four and would do enough to still hold a five point lead heading into the final period.  As the fourth quarter got underway the Grizzlies came out with renewed energy and just one and a half minutes into the quarter Grace tied the game up before taking a one point lead.  Then the game slowed with scoring being limited.  Following several timeouts and a lot of back and forth it was the Cardinals that ended the game on top by just three points.  In a game full of seniors and experienced players it was a pair of sophomores that stood out in this one.  Kade Kimball for Grace played some of the best defense I have seen played on the very skilled Cooper Thompson creating several turnovers that helped lead to Grizzlies scores.  But it was the Cardinal’s Jaxson Horsley that helped earn the win for Soda Springs.  Horsley grabbed some crucial boards while putting up seventeen points including a late game foul shot that helped put the dagger in the Grizzlies. 

After the hard fought win at home the Cardinals had to hit the road and travel to Declo to face a solid Hornet team.  This year’s Hornet team is not quite like last year’s team but they are not a team you can look past.  Once again the Cardinals would be without the services of one of their top players Konner McWilliams.  This game was tight for the majority of the game.  After the first quarter of play the Cardinals found themselves down by a single point in what was a very physical game.  As the old saying goes the refs were letting them play in this one.  The physical play continued in the second along with the limited scoring.  At the half not much had changed as the Cardinals still trailed by a single point.  The third was much the same with similar results.  Soda Springs headed into the fourth now trailing by two and feeling the pressure to win this critical district game.  The fourth quarter saw an explosion of offense for both teams.  The Cardinals put up a whopping twenty-six points in the quarter while the Hornets added just sixteen giving Soda Springs the eight point win.  Assisting in the big fourth quarter scoring in the absence of McWilliams was Landon Martinsen who had nine points in the fourth.

The Cardinals will continue conference play this week with a pair of very tough road games.  On Wednesday the Cardinals travel to Malad then face the district leading West Side Pirates on Friday.

Cardinals 15 17 10 10 52

Grizzlies 13 10 14 12 49

C. Thompson 21, G. Hansen 7, L. Mellor 3, J. Horsley 17, P. Ozburn 2, M. Browning 2

Cardinals 8 11 11 26 56

Hornets 9 11 12 16 48

C. Thompson 17, G. Hansen 11, L. Mellor 2, J. Horsley 13, P. Ozburn 2, L. Martinsen 11