South Haven News

By Claire Minor

On Jan. 17, 2026, the South Haven Cardinals headed on up to Oxford, Kansas to play against the Caldwell Bluejays. If you’ve been keeping up with the boys this season, you wouldn’t see any wins. Multiple close games with one point differences, but no successes. I am happy to be the one to say that this game changed that. This was the first win of the Cardinals season making their overall results as 1-11. The score during halftime was 25-17, Cardinals in the lead, and the final score being 55-40, Cardinals securing the win. 

Player #3, a junior at South Haven Schools, and one of the two captains for the Cardinals, Maddox Pond, is a mix between a point guard and shooting guard. Pond made around 14 points during the game. Pond’s favorite parts of the game were when the Cardinals were running a play and the gym was loud, he said that it gave the team more confidence, along with the team celebrating their first win in the locker room after the game.

Pond said that he had gone into this game in his head, not confident, and a little tired, so he feels like he did not play his best, saying “I could not hit a shot to save my life. Most of my points were at the rim.” Pond said that he could have tried harder to make his mid-range shots and worked to get the posts more involved.

However, Pond thinks that the team played in unison, saying “It was some of the best basketball we played all year.” For the team to improve, Pond thinks that they can work on their ball defense and stopping drives. Pond said that the team was ready to take on Caldwell but had to adjust because they just had a game the day before. If Pond could change one thing about the game it would be for the Cardinals to work the ball better and get a more open shot. 

Pond described Caldwell as a compact, fast team that tries to get to the rim. Pond didn’t think that anyone from the team made it difficult to compete with because they didn’t single anyone out. Pond still considers Caldwell their biggest rival despite being combined with them for football, cross country, softball, baseball, and track (Outlaws). Caldwell has always been considered South Haven’s biggest opponent even before the schools came together. So Pond says that they are against each other the most now because they are not far from each other, this is the only sport that they can compete in, and if they lose, they will give them crap about it. 

With all of that being considered, this wasn’t just any old win. This was the end to the Cardinal’s losing streak and it brought a new wave of confidence giving the Cardinals the proof they need to go into all games knowing that they can secure a win. 

REMINDER: If you would like to stay up-to-date with the events that South Haven Schools are involved with, check out Usd509 South Haven on Facebook/Instagram or https://www.usd509.org/!