After 17 straight losses to Pike, SHS snapped the streak by beating the Red Devils in the opening round of sectionals, 53-46. This win comes after two defeats last year, where it took four overtimes to decide the county semi-final and a missed last second shot to decide the sectional contest. According to senior Joey Brunk, playing Pike was a game that they had been preparing for for awhile.

“(The rematch) was definitely something that we’ve looked forward to,” Brunk said.

Early on in the first quarter, Brunk got into foul trouble and had to sit. This allowed Pike to take a 24-22 halftime lead. In the second half when Brunk returned to the game, SHS started to take the advantage, outscoring Pike 32-22 in the second half.

Even though Brunk had a major impact on the second half, SHS also got key points from junior Paul Scruggs and freshman Harold Bennett, who scored 12 and 13 points respectively. Bennett’s scoring started a run that gave SHS the lead late in the third quarter.SHS narrowed the gap to a two possession game with less than 10 seconds left to play. SHS then forced a technical foul because a Pike player called a timeout his team did not have when he couldn’t inbound the ball on time. That gave Brunk the opportunity to ice the game with a pair of free throws with 3.7 seconds left.

“We had some guys step up that we needed to step up, and I was really proud of what Joey Brunk did,” coach Kyle Simpson said.