By Rodney Haas 

605 Sports 

MITCHELL — It’s been a while since the 100-year-old building on Mitchell’s main street shook like it did following the Kernels’ 45-41 win over Minnesota power DeLaSalle Saturday at the Hoop City Classic. 

For the older fans in attendance it brought back memories of the glory days of Mitchell basketball, a time when state tournament appearances were a birthright. 

But what followed after legendary coach Gary Munsen retired in 2012 was the dark ages for Mitchell basketball and a time with zero state tournament appearances and in some cases zero-win seasons. 

That is all changing with Mitchell coach Ryker Kreutzfeldt, who in his short time as coach returned the Kernels to the Class AA state tournament and last year advanced to the Class AA championship game for the first time since the days of Munsen.   

“The Corn Palace is special, especially when the Kernels are playing,” Kreutzfeldt said. “The boys and girls are 6-0 and it’s a fun time to be a Mitchell Kernel fan. Our fans had a big part of that (win on Saturday). They were into the game, the student section was full and they were part of the game. Basketball is special in Mitchell and hopefully we can keep it that way.”

Against the 24-time Minnesota Class AAA champions, the Kernels jumped out to a big lead and held on in the final minutes for the victory.

However, while nights like Saturday were special for Kernel fans, Kreutzfeldt was quick to credit his predecessor Todd Neuendorf for laying the groundwork to have nights like that. 

“You had those down years where we didn’t have a ton of talent, we had some but we didn’t have a ton and then coach Neuendorf came in,” Kreutzfeldt said. “There’s no u-turning of the Kernel program without coach Neuendorf’s stint here. I’m just able to reap the benefits from that work. Now we have guys who are high-level players in the state and I’m the one who gets to drive the bus.” 

This year the Kernels have been led by seniors Gavin Soukup, Abraham Gunnare and Nicholas Moller, to go along with juniors Markus Talley, Landen Soulek, Parker Mandel, Sutton Thompson, Gavin Hinker, sophomore Colton Smith and find themselves at 6-0 with wins over Huron, Watertown and the two Rapid City schools before picking up Hoop City Classic wins over Thunder Basin (Wyo.) and DeLaSalle 

“There’s a great tradition in Mitchell, but we are trying to pave our own way,” Kreutzfeldt said. “We got it going again now, but we have to hang one up. We need to hang a banner up. We’re a long way from that but these guys are working toward that. We have guys at our younger level so we're going to be OK for a while. We just need to keep guys pulling in the same direction and keep working.”

If the Kernels are to hang another state championship banner from the Corn Palace rafters for the first time in nearly 20 years, they are going to have to get through teams like Class AA’s No. 1 Harrisburg, which enter Tuesday’s matchup with No. 2 Mitchell after suffering its first loss of the season to Cordova, Tennessee, on Thursday at the Hoop City Classic. 

“They are kinda similar to us in that they have three main scorers,” Kreutzfeldt said of Harrisburg. “We didn’t make the state tournament (Saturday). We didn’t win a first round game in the state tournament. We just won a regular season game. We have to keep building and we have to keep it one game at a time and see where it takes us. I feel like it was a statement win but we have a tough one on Tuesday.”