The Cavaliers are rated second in this week's Class A poll, believed to be the highest ranking ever for the squad.
"We actually like to be where we're at," said Roncalli girls' coach Derek Larson of the elite position.
He knows that ratings do not win any games, but it does garner the team some state-wide recognition.
"It's kind of a little pat on the back," Larson said. "We don't talk about it too much, if ever. We're trying to stay humble."
Larson understands that being highly rated also comes with a price.
"The thing that's not so good about that is we always have a target on our back," Larson said. "We get everyone's best basketball."
Larson also knows that while his team has recorded four lopsided victories so far this season, the Cavaliers have yet to get into the meat of their schedule.
That is about to change.
"We have the tough part of our schedule coming up," Larson said. "The games coming up are going to be a lot more difficult."
Roncalli's next four games include Britton-Hecla (3-1), Herreid-Selby Area (4-0), Groton (3-1) and top-ranked St. Thomas More (4-0) at the Redfield Classic.
"Four good games all in a row," Larson pointed out. "We know that we're going to have to bring our best basketball to beat all those teams."
Not only that, but looming on Roncalli's schedule the rest of the sason are foes such as Redfield-Doland (already 2-0 in the Northeast Conference), Deuel (3-1), Sisseton (defending region champion), Warner (4-0 and ranked fifth in Class B), Miller (1-0), Milbank (3-0), Summit (3-0 and ranked first in Class B), Clark-Willow Lake (ranked fourth in Class A), and a quality opponent to be determined in the Hanson Classic.
Larson is not looking that far down the road, however. He wants to make sure his players focus on the first task at hand.
"We preach every day about looking one game at a time and one practice at a time," he said. "We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves."
Sports writer Dave Vilhauer
Classic time of year
Several area teams will be taking part in basketball classics throughout the area later this month. A three-day stretch, Dec. 27-29, has the following schedule.
Mobridge will host both boys' and girls' Rotary Classics. The girls' is on Dec. 27 while the boys' will be the following day, both at the Mobridge-Pollock High School Gym. Each day features four games, starting at 1 p.m.
On Dec. 28-29, the 33rd annual Parkston Classics will take place. The girls' is Friday while the boys' is Saturday. Each has eight games scheduled, with games starting at 10 a.m. at the National Guard Armory. Admission to each day is $6 for adults and $4 for students.
Milbank will be the site of four games, two girls' and two boys', on Dec. 29 for the Subway-State Farm Shootout at the Milbank High School Armory. Halftime of each games will feature a special event. Games begin at 1:30.
The East-West Classic is Dec. 29 at Chamberlain with seven games scheduled, two girls' games and five boys' games. The first game is slated for an 11 a.m. start.
Complete lists of games and times can be found in Scoreboard.
Sports writer Shawn Werre
BASKETBALL
High School Girls
Classics
Mobridge Rotary Classic
Dec. 27 at Mobridge
Dupree vs. Sunshine Bible, 1 p.m.
Timber Lake vs. Little Wound, 3 p.m.
St. Francis Indian vs. Tiospaye Topa, 5 p.m.
Mobridge-Pollock vs. Herreid-Selby Area, 7 p.m.
Parkston Classic
Dec. 28 at Parkston
Corsica-Stickney vs. Highmore-Harrold, 10 a.m.
Madison vs. Beresford, 11:30 a.m.
Ethan vs. Viborg-Hurley, 1 p.m.
Wagner vs. Tri-Valley, 2:30 p.m.
Hanson vs. Centerville, 4 p.m.
Sully Buttes vs. Warner, 5:30 p.m.
Parkston vs. Dell Rapids, 7 p.m.
Clark-Willow Lake vs. St. Thomas More, 8:30 p.m.
Milbank Subway-State Farm Shootout
Dec. 29 at Milbank
Sisseton vs. Elkton-Lake Benton, 1:30 p.m.
Milbank vs. Summit, 3:10 p.m.
East-West Classic
Dec. 29 at Chamberlain
Lennox vs. Lead-Deadwood, 11 a.m.
Belle Fourche vs. Chamberlain, 2 p.m.
BASKETBALL
High School Boys
Classics
Mobridge Rotary Classic
Dec. 28 at Mobridge
Tiospaye Topa vs. Edmunds Central, 1 p.m.
Timber Lake vs. St. Francis Indian, 3 p.m.
Dupree vs. Herreid-Selby Area, 5 p.m.
Mobridge-Pollock vs. Little Wound, 7 p.m.
Parkston Classic
Dec. 29 at Parkston
Corsica-Stickney vs. Wolsey-Wessington, 10 a.m.
Sully Buttes vs. Wessington Springs, 11:30 a.m.
McCook Central-Montrose vs. Miller, 1 p.m.
Viborg-Hurley vs. Ethan, 2:30 p.m.
Wagner vs. Garretson, 4 p.m.
Warner vs. James Valley Christian, 5:30 p.m.
Parkston vs. Sisseton, 7 p.m.
Aberdeen Roncalli vs. Mount Vernon-Plankinton, 8:30 p.m.
Milbank Subway-State Farm Shootout
Dec. 29 at Milbank
Clark-Willow Lake vs. St. Thomas More, 4:50 p.m.
Milbank vs. Cheyenne-Eagle Butte, 6:30 p.m.
East-West Classic
Dec. 29 at Chamberlain
Lead-Deadwood vs. West Central, 12:30 p.m.
Spearfish vs. Lennox, 3:30 p.m.
Belle Fourche vs. Chamberlain, 5 p.m.
Crow Creek vs. Canton, 6:30 p.m.
Douglas vs. Platte-Geddes, 8 p.m.
WRESTLING
High School
Big Stone Therapies Classic
Jan. 5 at Milbank
Doors open 9:15 a.m., wrestling starts 10 a.m.
Round One: Mat One, Milbank vs. Marshall, Minn.; Mat Two, Sioux Falls Washington vs. Warner-Northwestern; Mat Three, Sisseton vs. Canby, Minn.
Round Two: Mat One, Milbank vs. Canby; Mat Two, SFW vs. Marshall; Mat Three, Sisseton vs. W/N.
Round Three: Mat One, Milbank vs. SFW; Mat Two, Canby vs. W/N; Mat Three, Sisseton vs. Marshall.
Round Four: Mat One, Milbank vs. W/N; Mat Two, Canby vs. Marshall; Mat Three, Sisseton vs. SFW.
Slow start to the season
While most teams have already played three or four games to start the season, the Miller girls' squad has played just once.
The Rustlers, whose only game took place on Dec. 4, have had back-to-back games postponed because of the weather.
"It is frustrating," said Miller coach Darin Hunter, "but I think in my 23 years of coaching this is the youngest team I've ever had. I look at it as we've had a great amount of time to practice."
Not only that, but since the Rustlers won their only game so far, that also means the young players have had a chance to gain some confidence.
"It might work to our advantage in that we don't really have any negative things right now that we have to think about," Hunter said.
The down side is that not only have the Rustlers not had a game in more than two weeks, but both of the called off games have been rescheduled for next month meaning Miller's January schedule is jam-packed with 13 games.
"That's going to cut back practice time," Hunter pointed out.
Interestingly enough, Miller is scheduled to play De Smet on Friday. It will be the Bulldogs' eighth game of the season already, a complete contrast to Miller's start of the season.
"Hopefully, we can get this game in on Friday," Hunter said, "because we don't play again until Jan. 3."
Sports writer Dave Vilhauer
Milbank Wrestling Classic
The Milbank High School Armory will host the Big Stone Therapies Wrestling Classic on Jan. 5. Doors will open at 9:15 a.m. and wrestling starts at 10 a.m. Varsity wrestling will be on three mats and junior varsity on a fourth mat. Ticket prices are $6 for adults and $4 for students.
Teams competing are Milbank, Marshall, Minn., Sioux Falls Washington, Warner-Northwestern, Sisseton and Canby, Minn. A complete schedule of matches can be found in Scoreboard.
Sports writer Shawn Werre
Top swimmers
Two members of the Aberdeen Swim Club took top honors in their age divisions at a recent meet.
Tucker Iwerks and Hannah Kastigar won a competition called the quadathlon at the Snowfox Candy Cane Classic in Sioux Falls on Dec. 7-8.
Iwerks won the multiple event for 15-16 boys and Kastigar finished first in the 15 & Over girls. Kastigar was also the high point swimmer in her age division at the meet. Iwerks was fifth in high points. September Iwerks of the Aberdeen club won the 11-12 girls division.
The Aberdeen Swim Club has a slight break in the action over the holidays but will return to the water Jan. 5-6 for the annual home meet at the Aberdeen Family Y pool.
Sports writer Deb Smith
Quickly
- The girls' basketball game between Sisseton and Harrisburg from Dec. 15 has been rescheduled to Jan. 21 at Harrisburg.
- Jake Leingang of Bismarck, N.D., finished third at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in San Diego recently.
- The game times for the Aberdeen Central and Yankton basketball games on Saturday have been changed for the original schedule. The times are 1 p.m. for the junior varsity and freshman A, 2:45 p.m. for sophomore and freshman B, and 4:30 p.m. for the varsity. The boys' games are at Golden Eagles Arena in Aberdeen, and the girls' games are at the Summit Center in Yankton.
- The only undefeated team in Eastern South Dakota Conference play for boys' basketball is Watertown at 3-0. All of the other ESD teams have at least one loss in league play.