MADISON — The Reedsville Panthers are the Division 5 state champions!
Making their first appearance at the state tournament in 80 years, the Panthers took down Southwestern, 56-48, to win their second championship in program history.
"I guess it hasn't really sunk in for me yet," said senior guard Ben Prochnow. "Obviously we got to hold the gold ball and stuff, but like, I guess it really hasn't sunk in yet that we are the champions, but I think it'll slowly sink in as we get to go see some of the fans upstairs and talk with family and just realize like dang, we went out as number one and we won it all and just kind of bring some more success back to Reedsville,"
The game was close at the half, 35-33, but Reedsville pulled away slowly in the second half. An Arden Strenn basket made it 46-42 with over 5 minutes left, and then the Panthers would hang on from there as Southwestern could never make the game closer than that.
In their last game ever for the Panthers, seniors Arden Strenn and Ben Prochnow shined the brightest for their squad. Strenn had a dominant performance, finishing with a double-double, 20 points and 14 rebounds.
"I've played with Arden for 3 years now since he's a sophomore, and he's my shooting partner actually. So we work all the time on passing the ball and he's shooting. So to get it done with him and see him succeed, I mean, it means the world to me to see him," said Prochnow, who had 19 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds.
For Ben and his sophomore brother Zach, their grandfather was on the team that won their first title in 1946.
"In our gym, there's the big banners on the wall with the 1946 state championship and the 2021 football championship, and then on the side wall, there's like an old banner from like not from 1946, but it's older, like retro, so I think it should be cool to look up on the wall and see 2026 up there and know that that's our class and we did it in honor of our community and my grandpa just being able to get a win and get a gold bowl like he did," said Ben.
For head coach Ron Prochnow, who won the title coaching his two boys, Saturday was special.
"That's the part that hasn't hit me — we don't get to play another game," he said. "I'm so used to, let's go watch film till tomorrow morning or whatever, and who's next? Who's next? Who's next? And so that part hasn't hit me that we're done, and the other part isn't that I'll never coach (Ben) again. I get the other two. I get my, my sophomore and my eighth grade to be hopefully to go with them, but I'll never get to coach him again. That was very special to me. I think it made a nice bond as father and son because I'm going to be."
And for Ben, it was special to win this with his family:
"18 years in the making of me working with (my dad) in the gym, not just during practice but in the offseason, getting in the gym and just getting shots up, shots up," he said. "The moments that everyone doesn't see, so just being able to now come out here and perform in front of a packed stadium for Division 5, it really means a lot and then just from the father-son aspect to be able to do it with my dad and game plan together and just enjoy basketball together is really special and something I will never take for granted."
