There were many memorable moments from the past sports season and many memorable responses from those moments. Below is a collection of the best quotes that appeared in SD SportScene in the past year. We hope you enjoy the comments and that they bring back plenty of memories from 2023.

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“Nelson can just beller it out. I cannot do that. My voice will be gone after a game and he’s just getting warmed up.” Britton-Hecla boys’ basketball coach Troy Knecht on the difference between his voice and that of Terry Nelson, Britton-Hecla girls’ basketball coach

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“I think they hosted the circus the week before we had prom, so that was a special experience to smell the circus when we had prom. That was totally an Aberdeen thing to have happen, I feel like.” – TCU Senior Associate Athletic Director Gretchen Bouton recalling her days as a student at Aberdeen Central

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“I’ve never had a good team that didn’t have a great point guard, and I’ve never had a bad team that had a good point guard. He fits the good point guard – good team to a tee.” Northern State men’s basketball coach Saul Phillips on the play of point guard Sam Masten

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“This wasn’t necessarily a high school game. There were some collegiate athletes out there today, and there were some high-level athletic plays being made.” – Dell Rapids boys’ basketball coach Ty Hoglund after his team secured a win over Aberdeen Christian

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“You know at some point, you’re always going to have a last home game, but to have it take on the gravity of the last ever home game is something I have never been around. So in terms of preparing for that, it’s tough. – PC women’s basketball coach Carly Jeffrey on coaching in the team’s final game at the Strode Center

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“It feels so amazing. I can’t stop crying. It’s just been my dream forever and to not get it the last two years and to come back in this game and get the job done feels amazing.” – Kami Wadsworth of Hamlin after the Chargers won the State A Girls’ Basketball Championship after back-to-back runner-up finishes

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“It’s definitely more special. The first two they were talking Rett and Kalen, Rett and Kalen, and ‘Oh it’s going to be so easy to win,’ and now that they’re gone we’re kind of the underdogs. It was definitely nice to come out and win that.” – De Smet senior Damon Wilkinson after the Bulldogs won the State B title without departed seniors Rett Osthus and Kalen Garry

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“I’ve become a pretty good meteorologist over the years watching the news, especially when you’re a football coach (and) track coach, because you’re outside for two sports.” – Groton coach Shaun Wanner of trying to plan ahead for the track and field season

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“Right before we were getting ready, we had a little team meeting. I told them, one thing we’re not going to do today is complain about the heat. We’ve been in the cold long enough.” – Aberdeen Roncalli track and field coach Brady Lesnar of competing in 90-degree weather at a mid-April meet in Pierre

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“We have quite a few more girls than other schools do. I think it’s because of course we’re farmers, and we’re tough girls and we’re hunters.” – Bowdle clay target shooter Trinity Kennedy explaining the amount of girl shooters on the team

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“They’re both very mental. Baseball is a 75 percent mental sport and trapshooting is even more mental. Every time you go out there you have the ability to break a clay or hit a pitch, but most of the time it’s almost always in your head.” – Aberdeen’s Zane Backous comparing baseball and clay target shooting

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“He said, ‘You know the kid you called out, he goes to church every Sunday. And he said he was safe. He wasn’t tagged.’ I said I go to church twice a year and I say he’s out.” – Umpire Ace Boschee on a coach disputing a call he once made in a baseball game

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“If I were to explain it, I’m not even on the struggle bus, I own the struggle bus company right now.” Midwest Modified Driver Dawson Zabel of Selby on his performances at Brown County Speedway

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“I enjoy it here. It’s good people, it’s good living. People care about you and look you in the eye. They’re true to their word.” – NBA coach Dave Joerger on living in Aberdeen during the off-season

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“These poor people had to come and watch us for a couple of games and didn’t see a goal, so we had to get that figured out, and we did. It was just nice to hear the school song, and really nice for these guys to get that monkey off their back.” – Central boys’ soccer coach Lance Mohr after his team scored for the first time in three home games

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“It was pretty wild. That was a toss-up there. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t think I was going to get it, actually. I was just driving my heart out.” – Aberdeen’s Chad Becker after winning the Late Model feature at the Big Buck Nationals by passing the leader just before the checkered flag

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“He’s such a great guy. He just loves to run and loves to exercise. He embodies good character and a good person. If you were ever to look up to somebody and want to be like somebody, Bob Salmi’s your guy.” – Ipswich coach cross country and track and field coach Todd Thorson on his former track and field coach Bob Salmi

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“Oh my gosh, it’s so hard. Ava Nilsson is a great setter. Her sets are on point, her hitters are right there. Being a middle hitter you have get both ways and when you have a good setter like her, it’s hard to know where the ball’s going and then when it goes, it’s instant, so it’s hard to get up right away.” – Aberdeen Roncalli volleyball player Ava Hanson on trying to play defense against Warner

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“I’ve been joking about Tyson to get a haircut the entire season, because he could never see the goal. He was missing it. So now he gets a haircut, and Voila, there’s a goal.” – Aberdeen Central boys’ soccer coach Lance Mohr on Tyson Hassebroek scoring three goals in one game following a haircut the day before

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“I think that’s just a stat. All in all it comes down to how many team victories you can have. The best thing at the end of the day is to have a big win as a team.” – Warner setter Ava Nilsson on her more than 4,000 career assists

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“When I’m done with a song and I played it good, it’s like a feeling of relief. When I hit a really good kill and it’s like straight down to the floor, it kind of just fires me up and I want to keep going.” – Milbank’s Rachel Schulte, on the difference between playing the violin and playing volleyball

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“Someone said you need to tell them run like you stole something. Well, I’m like none of these kids would steal something, so they don’t know what that feeling is.” – Aberdeen Central boys’ cross country coach Greg Murley on the character of his runners

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“Someone says, ‘Hey coaching’s not rocket science.’ No. It’s actually harder, because if you’re a rocket scientist, the chemicals don’t talk back. They don’t melt down. That in itself is a challenge that no one thinks about. When people come watch us play, they think it’s puppy dogs and rainbows. It’s not like that.” – Northern State volleyball coach Brent Aldridge on the challenges of coaching

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“This is the point in the season when we start to get tired and worn out. Our gym smells like Biofreeze, but these girls are holding on and putting up some amazing things in spite of how their bodies are feeling.” – Aberdeen Central gymnastics coach Mickey Everson after a busy start to the season