By Mike Drooger

Jacob Ockenga celebrated his birthday on Saturday, March 6, when his Flying Dutchmen entertained the Blackhawks of Madelia. His sisters made posters for the celebration, one of which read: “May all your ‘swishes’ come true!”

It turned out to be an omen of things to come, not for Jacob Ockenga but the other Jacob on the team. Jacob Fischer, a blue-collar, roll-up-your-sleeves, bang-up-your-knees kind of player for Coach Doug Van Kley, made a shot he’ll remember for the rest of his life. It was a swish come true.

The Dutchmen trailed 53-51. Keegan Fey, who was 6-for-13 from beyond the arc (including 5-for-9 in the second half), attempted a trey with 7.7 seconds remaining. It barely missed; Madelia got the rebound, and EHS fouled. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Edgerton got a steal and called timeout with 4.7 seconds left. Coach Van Kley drew up a play to get the ball to the hot shooting Fey. Fey ran through a double screen and got the ball. He got the shot off but it was blocked. Somehow, in the mass of humanity between the three-point arc and the out-of-bounds line, Fischer came up with the ball.

Fischer had the wherewithal to fire up a one-handed shot almost like a shot put attempt. It was dead center swishing through the net as the buzzer sounded! It was complete pandemonium—on the court and in the stands! Fans that didn’t know each other well, hugged anyway. Fans that did know each other well, kissed (masks still in place of course). Fischer’s teammates mobbed their hero. They dog-piled him in front of what used to be the drinking fountain and spittoon near the southwest door of Edgerton’s gym.

Earlier in the game, Coach Van Kley’s wife Michelle (an Edgerton EMT) had been summoned to bandage Fischer’s bleeding left knee so he could return to action. In the celebratory fracas near the southwest door, it was a case of blood, sweat, tears (of joy), and torn facemasks. Edgerton had pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in program history—certainly in Coach Van Kley’s history.

It didn’t look like it would even be close to an Edgerton win. The Dutchmen trailed 25-8 at the 6:38 mark of the first half. Van Kley called a timeout. At that point, his team had nine turnovers and they had attempted only nine shots. From then on, Edgerton had just four turnovers, which was instrumental in their comeback.

The heroes were many for Edgerton. Gabe Gilbertson got back-to-back steals late in the second half. He turned the thefts into three points and Edgerton trailed 48-43. He had four steals in the game, 14 points, and 10 rebounds.

Nolan Buckridge hit a trey (assist Fey) to pull EHS to within 48-46. Buckridge was 4-for-5 from the floor and finished with 11 points. But his main contribution had more to do with defense. Madelia, in the person of Ja’Sean Glover, has one of the more celebrated marquee players in Minnesota Class A basketball. His coach, Jeff Van Hee calls him “a once-in-a-lifetime player.” Glover started varsity at Madelia midway through 7th grade. He surpassed 1,000 points and became Madelia’s all-time leading scorer as a sophomore with a little over 1,400 points. On March 1, 2021, he surpassed the 2,000-point mark. During Buckridge’s postgame interview on KDWC radio, Buckridge said, “He’s their whole offense. We went to a box-and-one defense just to try to slow him down.”