Long Road to a Grade State Championship
- Wally Langfellow
- Mar 8, 2022
- 2 min read
by Wally Langfellow
Of the 878 teams that traveled to this year’s MYAS Boys Grade State Basketball Championships, not many came further than Matt Schonrock’s 3rd grade team from Blue Earth. Located 133 miles southwest of the Twin Cities and roughly 10 miles from the Iowa border, Blue Earth has a population of just over 3,000 and is most famously known for being the home to the 55-foot tall Jolly Green Giant statue. Quite the contrast to their 3rd grade traveling boys basketball team that has just 8 players, including one second grader and one first grader.
“Since our school is so small we needed the 2 younger kids to fill out the roster. And yes they are tiny” said Schonrock. “It’s a big deal for our team to come to the Cities, because down in Southern Minnesota we don’t have the caliber of players nor the size that the Cities’ schools have. So I wanted to challenge our little kids to the bigger picture of basketball.”
Blue Earth vs St.Cloud photo by Bailey Hillesheim
So, Schonrock and his team made the trip to Fridley with hopes of heading back to Southern Minnesota with a championship, but not really knowing. Even though they had gone 18-1 during the season, it wasn’t against the kind of competition that they were sure to see in the Twin Cities.
Crunch Time
“We have (had) a tough first round matchup with St.Cloud. I have no idea about the teams we play. That’s what makes this so exciting” he said prior to their opening game on Saturday against St.Cloud.
Turns out he had nothing to worry about. Blue Earth shut down St.Cloud with a 22-8 win in their opener before rolling over Farmington 41-10 in the semifinals setting up Sunday’s championship game against the St. Paul Nighthawks. After spending Saturday night in a Maple Grove hotel swimming “and just having fun” Schonrock’s third graders were once again equal to the task in the title game. They cruised to a convincing 38-19 win over St. Paul on the main high school floor Sunday afternoon at Fridley High School.
Blue Earth Bucs celebrating their State Title
“We worked all year long on defense, and I think it showed. We came up here and gave up just eight points to St. Cloud in the first game.. In the second game we gave up 10 to Farmington. And then in the last game, we only gave up 19.”
All in the Family
Predictably, winning and basketball runs in the bloodlines of the Schonrock family. Matt played college basketball at Bethel while his sister Shannon played alongside Lindsey Whalen on the 2004 University of Minnesota women’s basketball team that went to the Final Four.
So what about this 3rd grade tier two Grade State title that his team just won. How does it stack up? “I wanted to make sure they had fun when they came up here, but we didn’t expect to win a Cities’ tournament” said Schonrock. “Pretty amazing for these kids.”
And are you coming back next year? “Absolutely” he said.
Sounds like bad news for “Cities” 4th grade teams next year hoping to win a state championship.
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