NEENAH, Wis. (NBC 26) – One of Wisconsin’s top high school basketball programs returns to the state’s biggest stage.
The Neenah boys are headed to Madison for the third straight season and 30th in program history, a WIAA record.
On Saturday, the Rockets defeated Marshfield 52-48 in the sectional final game.
It was Neenah’s 13th straight victory and 17th in the last 18 games after the Rockets started 4-6.
Junior forward Luke Jung missed the team’s first nine games; The Rockets are 17-2 with him in the lineup.
In nine seasons at the helm, Neenah coach Lee Rabas is 173-64 (73%) with four state tournament appearances and one state championship (2022).
Neenah plays Arrowhead in Friday’s round of the state semifinals; pickup is scheduled for 6:35 p.m
Last season, Arrowhead eliminated the Rockets from the state tournament, and this past weekend, Arrowhead defeated the Neenah girls team in the state championship.
“It’s still exciting,” Neenah coach Lee Rabas said of the Rockets returning to the state tournament. “This year is different from last year, different from last year and different from 2019 only because each team has its own identity.”
A gigantic part of this team? Resistance. The Rockets started the season 4-6.
“We knew we weren’t that bad of a team,” senior defenseman Charlie Wunderlich said. “We had a difficult start, but we really knew we had to try to gain some momentum.”
“I had every confidence that we were going to get to where we are today, and I never had any doubts about these guys,” added senior guard Brady Corso, who leads the Rockets with 21.7 points per game.
Since then, the Rockets have won 17 of their last 18 games and 13 in a row. This is another masterful coaching job from Rockets coach Lee Rabas.
“We felt as a staff that we were superior and we tried to get into the atmosphere with the kids,” Rabas said. “And I think they knew it too.”
In nine seasons at the helm, Rabass led Neenah to a 173-64 record, reaching the state final four four times and winning the 2022 state championship.
“For me, he’s the best coach in the state,” Corso said. “It means he is incomparable to any other coach.”
Can the Rockets get back to the top of the mountain now? Since the WIAA began reseeding teams in the state in 2018, no No. 4 seed in Division 1 has won a game.
That’s a hurdle Neenah will have to overcome in its match against top-seeded Arrowhead, which upset No. 1-ranked De Pere last weekend.
“We’re on a good streak now,” Wunderlich said. “We don’t feel like we’re weaker at all. We know what we can do and we know we can win it all.
“Let’s make the most of it,” Rabas said. “And that’s what we have the opportunity to do on Friday night.”
