Box Elder boys’ basketball rewrote the history books over the weekend, winning a second consecutive state championship and completing back-to-back undefeated seasons. New Media Broadcasters zeroed in on the championship game in Butte against Manhattan Christian and asked head coach Jeremy MacDonald how one game could capture an entire season.
“The game was kind of a mirror of some of the stuff we’ve had to deal with in their careers,” MacDonald said. “The first couple of seasons, we came up a little bit short of what we wanted to accomplish as a team.”
“This (championship) game started with us coming up a little bit behind,” MacDonald continued. “In the second half, we got going and started rolling.”
“That’s kind of just how their careers went: finishing it off with back-to-back championships, doing the little things that it takes to be a championship club and we accomplished that,” MacDonald said.
This has been a whirlwind of a time for coach MacDonald, who wasn’t even supposed to be in this position. After resigning as the coach and school superintendent at the end of last school year to move to Michigan with his family, he reversed course and said he wanted to coach this group one last time. What ensued was more of the same and the satisfaction of making the right decision. Coach MacDonald shared more.
“It took a little bit of sacrifice on the family that we have,” MacDonald said. “But we’re strong and (have a) support network for each other.”
“(We) encourage each other to chase after our hopes and our dreams,” MacDonald continued. “We balanced everything with travel and being around each other.”
“Then, my family was there to support this weekend,” MacDonald said. “That was amazing to have them be a part of wrapping the season up. I think it all worked out.”
Box Elder will officially lose MacDonald as the head coach as well as its core seniors who led them to back-to-back state championships. There is still plenty to be optimistic about as the Bears will have underclassmen fill the gaps as they got experience in the big games throughout the course of 2024-25.
There will be a community dinner on Tuesday night at 6:30pm inside the Box Elder High School cafeteria to celebrate the Bears winning another state championship.
