Covenant Christian jumped out to an early lead in Wednesday night's 58-48 victory over Dansville in the Class C regional final at Pewamo-Westphalia.

But there was reason for concern in the second quarter.

"Dansville is a good team, and they came out and gave us their best shot at the start of the game," Covenant coach Tyler Schimmel said. "We knew they were going to be tough and physical.

"There was a big stretch in the first half when we had three starters on the bench with foul trouble. Our bench increased the lead before halftime. I thought that was a big part of our win. Our bench has been really good for us this year. It hasn't been the same guy every night. Sometimes it's defensive minutes, sometimes it's rebounding and sometimes it's hitting big shots. I thought those guys did that late in the second quarter."

The Chargers, 21-4 overall, will next play Sanford Meridian in Tuesday's 7 p.m. state quarterfinal at Fremont High School. Sanford Meridian defeated Mason County Central 54-43 Wednesday.

The Chargers, who were state runner-up a year ago, led 11-6 after one quarter and 25-18 at halftime. Covenant then finished the third quarter on a 6-0 run, giving the Chargers a 40-28 lead. The Chargers led by as many as 18 in the fourth quarter.

Junior Carson Meulenberg led the Chargers with 16 points, while Nate Minderhoud added 11 points. Tyler Cammenga and Chuck Kaptein scored eight points apiece. Blake Kamps also came off the bench and made a big 3-pointer late in the first half. The Chargers outrebounded Dansville 37-33 and committed 15 turnovers while committing 11.

Wednesday's win marked the first time that the Chargers have won back-to-back regional titles since 1993-1994 when Covenant won consecutive state championships.

"We wanted to enjoy the regular season, but we were looking forward to this moment, this opportunity in March," Schimmel said. "We've had five games in a week-and-half, and we got the job done. I'm really proud of our boys for doing that.

"I'm excited for our team to have the opportunity to play in a quarterfinal. It's pretty rare to do it one time. We get to do it back-to-back. Our team and our community are really excited about that."

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