Devin Schmitz adjusts in the air to shoot around Rapid River’s Levi Miller during Dollar Bay’s semifinal win on Monday, March 12 in Negaunee. The Blue Bolts won 63-60. (Jason Juno/Daily Globe (Ironwood))

DOLLAR BAY — The Dollar Bay Blue Bolts make no reservations about it; they want Southfield Christian. The No. 1 ranked team who downstate pundits claim as “the surest thing to win a state title” and features two players — Bryce Washington and Harlond Beverly — with Division I offers from major programs. But this is a Dollar Bay team with an edge and a type of confidence that doesn’t care about any of that stuff. And in a way, this tourney run has been all about attempting to get a matchup with Southfield Christian to find out if the hype is real. 

“Not putting any carts before horses, but they want to see Southfield Christian,” Dollar Bay coach Jesse Kentala said of his players. “They want to see how good these guys really are. But obviously, a really good Cedarville team stands in our way, and we have to go to war Tuesday night.”

The Cedarville Trojans (21-3) are the last obstacle before the Blue Bolts can get the showdown they desire, and a win in tonight’s quarterfinal in Escanaba will pit the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the state against each other in the state semifinals at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. 

But the Blue Bolts (25-0) must win tonight in order to avoid the lazy narrative that they somehow overlooked Cedarville, when the reality is it’s typical for coaches to game plan ahead for such matchups. If Cedarville does win tonight, it won’t be because of a misperceived lack of awareness from Dollar Bay, it would be the result of Cedarville being the better team. And the Trojans feature enough weapons to give Dollar Bay trouble. 

First, Cedarville features the Eastern U.P. Player of the Year in Dakota Fairchild. The 6-0 senior guard averaged 15 points per game and attacks the basket with more ferocity than anyone Dollar Bay has gone up against this season.

“From what I’ve seen of him, he’s a smooth guard, attacks off the bounce and does have a nice jumper,” Kentala said. “He doesn’t have an extremely quick release, but he seems to be a competitor; he doesn’t back down, gets to the rack. 

“Out of all the guards we’ve seen this year, Fairchild’s going to put the most pressure on us because he continually is looking to attack.”

Naturally, the matchup with Fairchild falls to junior Brendan LeClaire, the team’s typical lockdown defender. But LeClaire enters Tuesday with a peeved mindset after Carney-Nadeau’s Jacob Kleiman scored 18 points against him, forcing Kentala to switch LeClaire off Kleiman and put Devin Schmitz on C-N’s high-scoring guard during the game’s final minutes. 

“I always like Brendan’s matchup; he takes pride in his defense,” Kentala said. “Brendan was a little dismayed at getting beat up by Kleiman the other night. He didn’t like it and didn’t appreciate me switching guys for him. He has a chip on his shoulder for that reason, and so he’s going to come back with a fine defensive performance. I never worry about Brendan.”

The Trojans also sport a decided size advantage over Dollar Bay, including the 6-4 Trey Norris, a First Team Eastern U.P. selection, and the 6-3 Tristan Masuga (Second Team Eastern U.P.). Masuga led Cedarville with 20 points in his team’s 58-49 regional final win over Brimley.

“They’ve got about four guys around 6-4,” Kentala said. “They look big and remind me a lot of Ontonagon, but they remind me of Rapid River, too. 

“We have to stop guard penetration first and foremost, then our rotations have to be on point. We’ve been working all week on big rotations. They do a lot of guard to big screen-and-roll action and use their size.

“We did not do a good job on the glass. We have to board a lot better than we did in that regional tournament.”

Offensively, Dollar Bay will face a mixture of full-court pressures and a 2-3 zone and man defense in the halfcourt. But regardless of how Cedarville defends, the Blue Bolts’ strategy down the stretch remains the same: get the ball into the hands of Schmitz and Jaden Janke. 

The senior duo scored the team’s last 19 points in the 65-64 regional final win over C-N, including 13 in the fourth quarter. In the last three games, Schmitz is averaging 20 points per game while Janke is at 18.

“Good players have to show up in these moments and postseason games,” Schmitz said. “That’s what I live for. I love when we need a shot and then having the ability to score. It’s just a good feeling.”

It’s been a different season for Schmitz from last year when he was relied on to light up the scoreboard each night with big offensive performances. This year, with Brandon Thompson back in the rotation and Jacob Iacono and Brendan LeClaire becoming more consistent scorers, Schmitz hasn’t had to take over as much. The distribution role may have affected his rhythm and shooting throughout the season, but when it matters most, lately, he’s delivered. There was the game-high 26 points against Rapid River, and the clutch free-throw shooting against C-N, going 4 for 4 at the line for his team’s final points to secure the victory.

“Devin’s the best player on the floor, no matter what game we play in,” Kentala said. “He’s playing confident right now. He’s struggled to find his way a little bit this season, with just all five guys being able to score and his role changing. But when we’re playing against these high-caliber teams, Devin and Jaden both have to step up.”

CHANCE TO MAKE HISTORY

This season’s Blue Bolts are just the second team in school history to win a regional title. Now, Dollar Bay will attempt to make history by advancing to the state semifinals for the first time. 

“We understand there have been some very good teams to come through Dollar Bay, like ’83, ’84, teams of the year in 1994, who was predicted to be Breslin and downstate,” Kentala said. “We’re proud and happy and all those cliche things, but we’re going into this quarterfinal and we want to get downstate. That’s our goal. We think we have the team for it, and we’re planned and prepped for it.”

The community has rallied behind Dollar Bay, raising $6,520 on a gofundme page for travel expenses. And in addition to the typical congratulatory messages and words of encouragement to Kentala, the best gift may have been a poster-sized dollar bill with Kentala’s face photoshopped onto the middle of it. The poster now hangs in the school’s gym. 

“The DB community and those guys are behind us,” Kentala said. “I’ve gotten so many texts and calls from players in the past saying that they love us, support us. The community bond and building is such a cool piece, especially for a little town like Dollar Bay.”