BONDUEL (NBC 26) — For the first time ever, the Bonduel boys basketball team is headed to the state tournament. With a 27-1 record, the Bears are staying true to their motto: "Stay humble, stay hungry" as they chase a state title.
"That's just what we're trying to do," Head Coach Duke Copp said. "I mean, it's a great bunch of kids. They've had a lot of things thrown at them this year, and it's like, hey, that can change in an instant. Stay humble, but we still have a lot of things to do. So stay hungry, and the kids have bought into it."
Heading into this season, Bonduel knew it had a strong core of returning players, but the Bears realized their full potential in the summer.
"We went to Madison to play in a summer tournament there, I kind of saw it in these young guys that we had the toughness and the competitiveness to really play at a high level," senior Race Anvelink said.
Bonduel started the season on a 20-game win streak before suffering its first loss to Roncalli.
"That loss, it kind of hit us, and we just never wanted to feel that again," sophomore Quinn Wesenberg said. "So every day in practice, working our best to get better, be more aggressive on defense, play harder, be smarter, and just always take it up a level every game."
Since that loss, the Bears have won seven straight and are headed to the WIAA state tournament for the first time in program history.
"It's really still hard to wrap your head around it," Copp said. "I mean, because we've all been working at this for so long. We've talked about it a little bit, but we're trying to— we're trying to, this week, enjoy this whole thing. But we still have work to do. So, it's a tough mix, a fun mix."
The players agree that winning the sectional title was nice, but they're hungry for more.
"It would mean everything to me," Anvelink said. "Making history here, not once but twice."
"Ever since I was really young, I always thought about making state, and it would be pretty awesome to do that with all my friends and teammates," Wesenberg said.
The No. 1 seed Bears (27-1) will face No. 4 seed The Prairie School (14-15) on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. in the Division 4 state semifinals at the Kohl Center in Madison.
