A birthday and a graduation, maybe a pregnancy and a promotion, good things can sometimes come in pairs.
Much can be said for Harrisburg head girls' basketball coach Jake Stewart, who like last year, earned his second straight Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Coach Of The Year Award and took home the Southern Illinois Class 2A Coach Of The Year award.
And make no mistake about it, winning the pair of awards were nice, but they still mean just as much this year as they did before.
"I always feel like when you can win any award (for a second time), it means more than it did the first time," Stewart said. "It's one of those things that when you are in the moment, you might not appreciate, but you also don't know if it's going to happen again. Nothing is guaranteed."
Stewart's team went 31-1 this past season, losing their only game to Breese Mater Dei in the Sectional Championship at Hamilton County High School. Harrisburg won the SIRR Ohio Division title outright for the first time in school history and won a sectional game for the first time since 1999.
The Bulldogs had a pair of 1,000th point scorers this season in Lotte Miller and Matty Hawkins and Harrisburg won their own invitational to start the season, along with the Benton Christmas Tournament and the Eldorado Mid-Winter Tournament.
There was also tragedy this season when the Harrisburg girls' basketball team held a memorial on their Senior Night for two members of the middle school basketball team that lost their lives in a house fire.
For Stewart, that was a telling moment and one that he will reflect on as to the determination and perseverance of his ball club.
"That night will stand out to me for a long time," Stewart said. "To see our community come together and support two great girls and their mother and to send our three seniors out with a win was a very emotional evening. We had to go through such an emotional night and focus and they way our team played when we really didn't focus on basketball until the ball was thrown in the air, speaks to how strong willed this team was."
The focus on basketball and the execution was certainly a strong suit for Stewart this season. It was also the toughest for him.
"For me, preparing for games is the toughest part of coaching and getting kids ready to play, to know other teams and other players, and what you have to do well to win is something I take great pride in," Stewart said. "That part of basketball isn't seen on the floor and is probably my favorite part of the game. It's not just going out and playing four quarters, you have to prepare and execute. Our kids have bought into that, which is why we have been so successful the last couple of years."
The IBCA award will be given our at a ceremony May 5th at Illinois State University.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois Local Media News Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
