Miller Cardinals capture first district championship since 2011

It had been 10 years since Miller defeated Wheaton to win the Class 2 District 12 championship before falling to Crane in the sectional round. Last week, the Cardinals handled third seeded Southwest (Washburn) 50-40 setting up a championship matchup against defending district champion Purdy. A championship matchup Miller would win.

Versus Purdy
The game was a defensive struggle early on as the Eagles and the Cardinals couldn’t extend a lead past three points all quarter. Miller led 8-7 after one. Senior Jeffery Lung hit a three midway through the second quarter to extend their lead to 17-13 at the half. The Miller offense woke up in the third as senior Joel Kleeman got 11 to go by himself, in part of a 16-4 run in the third. Miller went into the fourth up 33-17 before Purdy started the quarter on a 9-0 run themselves and brought the score to 33-26 with just under five minutes to play. Lung and Kleeman came up big for the Cardinals down the stretch and took the championship, 47-29.
 “Our kids have been working hard for this all year. This was my first year at Miller and I held them accountable and they went the right way,” Miller head coach Sean Price said following the win. “It has been 10 years and I think the guys were ready to compete for a district championship and to win it was awesome.”
 
Miller senior Lung knew it would take work.
“Coming into the season we knew we were losing some seniors and a new coach; we knew we had to work hard. Coach told us day one that he would lead us to a conference championship and a district championship. We fell short for conference, but we kept working and got a district,” Lung said.

Joel Kleeman led the way for the Cardinals with 20 points in the win. Jeffery Lung finished with 12. Brenden Thom had nine. Kaleb Groesbeck finished with four and Logan Nield added two.
Miller will play in the Class 3 sectional game at 6 p.m. March 3, against Greenwood at Greenwood High School.