Chargers embrace their underdog status
Kettle Moraine Lutheran will take the No. 4 seed. No problem.
The Chargers are the fourth seed in the Division 3 bracket of the WIAA boys state basketball tournament. The way longtime coach Todd Jahns sees it, that’s about right for a program that has never generated a lot of attention.
“It just goes, I think, with the nature of our style of play,” he said. ”We’re not a flashy team.”
Four, however, might just be the Chargers’ magic number. That was their seed in the regional, where they beat higher seeds Brown Deer, Dominican and Waupun to reach state for the first time. Brown Deer and Waupun were top-four teams in the Associated Press and coaches state polls.
In line with the team’s low-key style is its lack of a star player. Balance is the key for KML and that paid off during big moments in the playoffs when a handful of players stepped up to make plays.
Against Milwaukee Obama School of Career and Technical Education, a string of three straight three-pointers by sophomore guard Jacob Stoltz helped the team to a 72-70 overtime win. Against Brown Deer in the regional final, senior forward Zachary Zuleger’s play inside was crucial. In the sectional semifinal, senior forward Solomon Zarling’s buzzer beater lifted the Chargers to a 48-47 victory over Dominican. Zuleger’s double-double (13 points, 14 rebounds) helped get the team past Waupun in the sectional final.
You won’t find a team in the bracket with a better postseason resume, yet when that last victory was done, Kettle Moraine Lutheran’s players already knew what to expect at state.
“We were talking after the game and I said ‘Boys, what seed do you think we’re going to get’ and they go ‘Coach, we’ll take the four,’” Jahns said. “In some ways I think it’s somewhat (fitting). We’ll take that. We’ve still got to go play the game and we’re going to play hard, we’re going to compete, we’re going to battle.”