By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
Sophomore Hunter Mueggenborg has heard about the buzz around Okarche.
“Coach talks about how we’ve really won the town over and that this is a group everyone really likes,” Mueggenborg said.
There’s good reason for the collective confidence surrounding this team. Since a season-opening loss at Class 2A No. 2 Preston in November, the Warriors have won 22 of their last 23 games, with the only blemish coming in a controversial last-second loss to Hennessey in the championship game of the Three Rivers Conference Tournament.
This Warriors finished the regular season 22-2 and could be the first Okarche team to bring home a gold ball since 1979.
The Class A playoffs begin Saturday night at 7:30 in Okarche when the fifth-ranked Warriors host Canton or Ninnekah in the district title game.
“I’d say we’re pretty confident. We work too hard not to be,” said sophomore Wyatt Pinkerton, who scored a team-high 18 points in Okarche’s win over rival Cashion in the Warriors’ regular season finale. Pinkerton is one of seven different players to lead the team in scoring this year.
The foundation for this team’s confidence was built in the summer. Okarche won its division at Oklahoma State University’s team camp and had a good showing at Edmond Memorial’s summer league. By the time Okarche won at Class B No. 4 Calumet in November, the Warriors already believed this could be a memorable season.
“Everything started to come together as a whole, and you could really tell we could have something special and make a deep run,” freshman starter Easton Roby said. “I’ve been waiting for this since fourth grade when I started going to the games almost every Friday night.”
Though the Warriors are young – starting forward P.K. Harris is the team’s only senior – they don’t play like an inexperienced team. The Warriors have proven to be unselfish and willing to do whatever it takes to win. Okarche totaled 20 assists on 32 made baskets in a 32-point win over Amber-Pocasset Feb. 3.
“I think the chemistry comes from being together for a long time,” Hunter Mueggenborg said. “We all like each other. I’ve known for a long time this team was going to be special.”
Most of these players have been together since grade school, on one youth team or another, so while some teams might struggle to gel while relying on so many underclassmen, Okarche has excelled.
“It’s not about what grade you’re in, it’s about how good you are and if you’re willing to hustle,” Harris said.
The Warriors haven’t had many close games – they’ve beaten 17 teams by 20 or more points – but when the score is close in the fourth quarter, Okarche has been excellent. OHS is 5-1 in games decided by single digits.
“Right when we step on the court, I feel like we have the edge to win every game,” Roby said.
Freshman Jett Mueggenborg, who is the cousin of Hunter Mueggenborg, leads the team in scoring, but Mueggenborg is a low-maintenance player who is happy to defer to his teammates when it’s the right thing to do.
“Multiple guys can do multiple things and that makes us tough to stop,” head coach Aaron West said.
Okarche averages 77.4 points per game and allows only 51.7. For the first time in more than 15 years, the Warriors went unbeaten in Three Rivers Conference play and won the regular season conference title.
“To go through the conference undefeated is a pretty special feat,” West said.
The real prize is still up for grabs, though.
“Definitely a gold ball, that’s what we’re going for,” Caden Schieber said. “We think it’s totally possible for us to do that and that’s why we’re grinding it out in practice every day.”
