By Jaxson Miller

The West Fargo Sheyenne boys’ basketball program and girls’ basketball program both wrapped up their eighth season as varsity programs.

The girls’ team had a new coach this year, Kenyon Wingenbach.

Wingenbach was an assistant coach for the Bismarck Century boys’ basketball program for five years and for the Bismarck Century girls’ basketball program for eight years.

Kenyon Wingenbach succeeded Brent Hintz, who was the coach for the first seven years of the West Fargo Sheyenne girls’ basketball program.

The boys team finished 20-7 overall with a fourth-place finish at the state tournament.

This was a team that graduated five seniors last year and lost 80 percent of their scoring, which came from Jacksen Moni and Jah’Heem Leake.

The girls’ program had their best season in program history, by going 20-6 overall, and had a 16-game winning streak that spanned for a little over two months.

Kenyon Wingenbach was glad to be a part of such an amazing experience, “I’m looking forward to next season, but this team was very special. I’ve been a part of a lot of successful teams, but I’ve never been a part of something like this. It’s a team I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”

Both the girls’ and boys’ teams punched their tickets to the 2022 North Dakota High School Basketball Class A State Tournament, which was held at the Bismarck Event Center from Thursday, March 10, to Saturday, March 12.

Sheyenne’s boys team punched their ticket by getting to the EDC (Eastern Dakota Conference) championship game for the third year in a row.

Fargo Davies beat Sheyenne 66-60, to get the East number one seed in the state tournament. Sheyenne beat Fargo Davies in the EDC championship last year, 92-55, and in 2020, 68-48.

Sheyenne’s girls team punched their ticket to the state tournament for the first time since 2019, by beating the Shanley Deacons, 68-51, in a state qualifier match. They earned the East number three seed in the state tournament.

Head coach Kenyon Wingenbach talked about his team being underestimated going into the season and winning 20 games in his first year as head coach, “I thought it was possible next season, but we exceeded everybody’s expectations this season. I thought we could make a run by tournament time and possibly upset a team or two to make it to state. Our main goal was to get acclimated to a new style of play, compete, improve, and form the foundation moving forward.”

The 2022 Class A State Tournament featured many tight games and great matchups. In the boys’ bracket, there was two games that went into overtime in the quarterfinal round.

Minot defeated Fargo North 73-72, thanks to Darik Dissette’s game winning floater, after trailing 71-64 with 1:21 to go in overtime. Fargo Davies outlasted Bismarck Century in overtime, 84-72.

Sheyenne defeated Mandan in the quarterfinal round for the second straight year, 61-48. The Mustangs marched to their third straight semifinal appearance.

West Fargo Sheyenne took on Minot in the first boys semifinal game on the evening of Friday, March 11, 2022. The Mustangs were up 19-11 before the Magicians made a late first half comeback to go up by one at halftime, 24-23.

Both teams shot below 35 percent from the field. The second half was back and forth, and it was anyone’s game.

The Magicians built a lead late in the second half before the Mustangs made a comeback of their own, thanks to another double-double performance from senior Michael Nhial, who had 24 points and 12 rebounds. Dominic Dosmann hit clutch shots down the stretch to keep the Mustangs in it.

Sheyenne struggled with foul trouble as the Mustangs’ second leading scorer, Kaleb Larson, fouled out late in the game.

The Mustangs tied it up at 51 to send the game to overtime. One overtime was not enough to determine a winner. Michael Nhial hit two out of three free throws to tie the game at 57 and force a second overtime.

Sheyenne came out with a couple of buckets to go up by four and a chance to put the Magicians away and punch a ticket to the state championship game. But Minot did not go away.

Minot got the lead back down to two and forced a stop. Then, the Magicians’ junior guard, Jaeger Gunville, hit one of the most clutch shots of the entire tournament, from NBA range, to take the lead 62-61.

The Magicians forced another stop and hit two free throws to go up by three. The Mustangs had one more chance to send the game to a third overtime.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, Sheyenne senior forward, Zander Newton, was blocked in the corner and the Minot Magicians survived just barely. This win punched their ticket to the Class A title game for the second straight year.

“This group was one play away from being the favorite in the championship. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to get to state and once you make it, you must find another level. The 2022 team had it and the 2020 team never got a chance to complete their season,” Tom Kirchoffner said.

Kirchoffner completed his eight season as head coach for the boys’ basketball program at Sheyenne.

The Magicians would get revenge on the West Fargo Packers in a rematch from last year’s state title game, with a 73-62 victory, to win their first title since 2017, and 19th in school history.

The boys’ team did prove tons of people wrong, and this is a program that should not be overlooked.

Head coach Tom Kirchoffner felt the same way, “We will always have that internal drive to do well. We want our players to do their best on and off the court. The challenge with this team was that we lost all of our starters from the previous year. It was a great challenge for this group of seniors, and they exceeded everyone’s expectations this year. I’m really proud of them.”

The Mustang girls’ basketball squad did not have the brightest finish to the best season in their program’s history. They lost both of their games at state. However, they kept it close in both of their games.

In the Mustangs’ quarterfinal game against Minot, who went on to win the Class A girls basketball state title, they were behind by as much as 20 points in the first half and made a huge comeback.

The Mustangs were able to get the lead down to single digits late in the first half and were able keep it that way throughout the second half.

The Majettes were able to hold on for the win by a score of 71-63. They went on to defeat Fargo Davies 64-57 in the semifinals, and snap Bismarck Century’s 50 game winning streak in the state championship, with a stunning 75-68 win.

This was just the second time the Minot girls’ basketball team won the state title. The first came in 1978.

The Mustangs lost to Bismarck Legacy 61-58 in the consolation semifinal round and the season came to end.

The Sheyenne girls’ basketball program is going to miss Alivia Manson and Lauren Fagerland as they are graduating this year. They contributed as deadly shooters from beyond the arc and were significant role models for the rest of the team.

The boys’ team is graduating a staggering nine players. These players are Michael Nhial, Kaleb Larson, Dominic Dosmann, Zander Newton, James Hagen, Trent Freih, Matthew Gooselaw, Kellen Entz, and Derrick Lobbo.

Nhial, Larson, Gooselaw, and Dosmann have interest to play at the next level.

Matthew Gooselaw is committed to go play for the Spartans at Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Fergus Falls. Kaleb Larson just recently committed to NDSCS in Wahpeton.

Dominic Dosmann has growing interest from Concordia College in Moorhead. Michael Nhial committed to Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

Nhial will team up with former Sheyenne Mustang Jacksen Moni next year along with Fargo Davies guard, Ian Motschenbacher, who committed to Northern State back in October.

Both Wingenbach and Kirchoffner will continue to have optimistic expectations for their teams.

“The expectations are high for next year, but almost every team that finished in the top seven this year has everyone back,” head coach Kenyon Wingenbach said. “It’s going to be a very competitive league, but we will continue to set and adjust our standards of excellence to pursue. We will need to continue to emphasize the little things, start from zero, and embrace new roles with the departure of our seniors.”

Kirchoffner had similar comments, “Expectations are the same – to work hard every day, have a great attitude, and be a good teammate.”

The girls’ team will bring back a ton of varsity experience and will have a large senior class next season. The boys’ team on the other hand will bring a group of players who have not had experience at the varsity level.

Kenyon Wingenbach is excited for the years to come, and Sheyenne is grateful to have him as head coach for the girls’ basketball program.

Wingenbach had great advice and lessons to give to players that participate in high school sports, “The ups and downs of any given season are an extreme version of real life. Basketball can be used as a vehicle for a higher purpose,” Wingenbach stated.

“I think everyone in our program learned a lot about themselves throughout our journey. The collective confidence we had as a team allowed all our members to feel more comfortable with who they truly are. Ultimately that’s the biggest takeaway from this season. Each season is different. Each group is different.”

As for Tom Kirchoffner, he emphasizes the importance of a great attitude, “Attitude is everything. I learned that at a young age when I would go to my dad’s basketball camps as that is what we had on the back of the camp t-shirts,” Kirchoffner said. “Also, you need to work hard to have success. Good things come to those who work hard.”

The Mustang faithful can be sure that both programs will continue to make remarkable things happen in the years to come.