Hermantown’s boys basketball team is about to find out who it really is.
Grand Rapids comes to Hermantown High School on Friday night, the start of a stretch that will define whether the Hawks can turn a brutal early schedule into a late-season surge in Section 7AAA.
A road trip to Duluth Denfeld follows Tuesday, Duluth Marshall visits next Thursday, then comes a rematch at Cloquet and a home date with Mounds View — five games in 14 days that will shape the section picture before February even arrives.
The Hawks enter it at 3-9, but the numbers only tell part of the story.
What Hermantown has really been doing since Thanksgiving is growing up fast against teams that don’t give away anything. The Hawks have already faced Princeton, Hibbing, Caledonia, Bemidji twice, Duluth East, Kasson-Mantorville, Esko, Cloquet and Bloomington Jefferson — a nonconference schedule that looks more like a state-tournament warmup than a rebuild.
“We came into the season short six players that we had with us throughout the summertime,” coach Andy Fenske said. “We prepped and planned for where we expected to be at the end of July, and then things flipped on us again. However, we’re doing our best to keep our heads above water despite the rigorous schedule we have for ourselves.”
It has been painful at times. Losses of 99-55 to Bemidji, 90-63 to Caledonia and 87-47 at Hibbing showed how wide the gap can be when youth meets size and experience. Kasson-Mantorville ran away with an 80-47 decision in southern Minnesota. Duluth East delivered an 85-52 reality check.
But inside that fire is the outline of something real — exactly what Hermantown hoped to forge by pushing itself.
“We try to make sure that the hardest games we’ll face will be outside of our section opponents,” Fenske said. “That’s been a proven formula for us in years past, and we need to keep grinding our way towards that again.”
Hermantown didn’t quit after being embarrassed by Bemidji in its own Holiday Classic. It came back the next night and beat Bloomington Jefferson. It went on the road to St. Paul Harding and won 94-50. It pushed Cloquet to the final horn in an 84-79 loss that felt nothing like the blowouts of November.
Those games happened because Hermantown has real young talent on the floor.
Junior power forward Sawyer Senst has emerged as the engine of the offense, averaging 17.2 points and 9.2 rebounds, a rare combination of scoring punch and physicality. Ben Sundland, a 6-foot guard, is averaging 14.2 points per game while pulling down 41 rebounds. Noah Schulz has given the Hawks a third legitimate scoring threat, averaging 11.6 points while also bringing toughness on the glass.
“Our biggest surprise has been freshman Noah Schulz, who’s provided a ton to our program,” Fenske said. “We have ‘veteran’ returns in Sawyer Senst, Ben Sundland, and Corbin Petcoff. Rounding out our top six players are sophomore Shea Eckel and junior Bryce Lundeen. These six have been the ones leading the way in the majority of our minutes.”
That core is beginning to look like something a coach can build around — not just this winter, but beyond it.
“As we look to the back half of our season, we hit some tough opponents, some for the first and only time, some for the second go-around,” Fenske said. “We need to continue to build our identity, use it to our advantage, and build towards the playoff push.”
With a roster this young, the growth curve matters as much as the standings.
“With such a young squad, we have an eye down the road to the 26-27 season as well; however, we need to keep our feet in the present moment,” Fenske said. “We’ve been able to adjust to some things as we’ve progressed here in the front half of our season, but we have a long way to go to get to where I believe that we can be come March time.”
That is why the next two weeks matter so much.
Grand Rapids, Denfeld and Marshall are games Hermantown can win. Cloquet is a rematch the Hawks already proved they can compete in. Mounds View brings another measuring stick before Rock Ridge and Virginia close the regular-season grind.
Hermantown does not need to become a juggernaut overnight. It needs to keep shrinking the gap — fewer empty possessions, cleaner rotations, smarter late-game decisions. That is how teams that get blown out in December become teams no one wants to see in February.
The Hawks have already taken their hits. They have already seen what size, speed and discipline look like when it is done right.
Now they get to find out who they are when the schedule finally starts to tilt back toward them.
It starts Friday night in Hermantown, with Grand Rapids in the gym and a young team ready to show what all that early-season pain was really for.