SUMMIT – Fans of the Waubay-Summit boys’ basketball team have been on the edge of their seats every game so far this season. The Mustangs have gone to the wire in each of their four games to start their campaign.

“It’s just taking years off my life,” jokingly said Waubay-Summit coach Mark Amdahl, “five years at a time.”

The Mustangs have had three games determined by a single point, and the other one decided by two points.

Amdahl, in his 21st year as a coach, said he hasn’t seen anything quite like it during his years on the sideline.

“I have never witnessed it. I’ve never been a part of it,” Amdahl said. “I guess it’s something that we don’t game plan for that to happen every game. It’s unique, but it’s also a great learning tool for me as a coach and for our players.”

The close calls have forced the Mustangs to adapt on the fly to start the season, putting in plays that wouldn’t normally be a part of the offense yet.

“It’s something in practice that we do normally work on at the end of the season, late-game situations,” Amdahl said. “It has prompted us to start working on them a little bit sooner.”

The Mustangs started out with a loss in the closing seconds to top-rated Castlewood 57-56. They followed that up with a 45-44 win over Webster, and a 35-33 victory over Waverly-South Shore. Waubay-Summit most recently fell to fifth-rated Leola-Frederick 51-50.

“When you look at it, yeah, we could easily be 0-4, but we could easily be 4-0,” Amdahl said. “It’s unique. It gives our team a little bit of confidence.”

Considering the strength of schedule, Amdahl is satisfied with a 2-2 start to the season.

“There’s room for improvement very much so,” Amdahl said, “but if you would have told me we’d be 2-2 to start the season a month ago, I would have took that.”

The season-opening contest against Class B power Castlewood, served as a confidence booster for the Mustangs, despite the narrow setback.

“The loss to Castlewood, it was a game that we kind of had in our hands and let it slip away.” Amdahl said “Our offense and defense were kind of running on all cylinders so to speak.”

The Mustangs fought back from a 12-point deficit and led by three with 30 seconds remaining.

“We had a chance, but kind of let it slip away,” Amdahl said, “but again it was a learning experience.”

The photo finishes kept occurring after that contest, so the Mustangs now have grown accustomed to pressure-packed situations.

“I’m hoping these games early give us the confidence just to keep improving and want to stay motivated,” Amdahl said, “and realize we got to keep improving day by day, game by game.”

The Mustangs face Tri-State today.

When asked if every game on the schedule will be a nail-biter this season, Amdahl responded, “I really hope that’s not the case. That being said I guess it’s a lot more fun for the fans. A lot of our fans in Waubay and Summit, say, hey we like those close games and don’t like the blowouts. Obviously, it’s completely the opposite.”

Amdahl said his players have kept their composure in those tight finishes to start the season. He said he tries to set an example on the sidelines for the players to follow.

“I don’t try to get too high or too low, because I feel like my kids feed off me,” Amdahl said, “and how I act on the sideline is how I want my kids to act, so I try to stay calm and stay focused on the next play.”

Amdahl, who guided the Summit girls’ team to three State B championships before switching to coach the boys, has been in his share of intense battles that have been determined in the closing seconds through the years. He said he still feels a few nerves before every game.

“Every game that we go into, I still get the butterflies, I still get the nerves,” Amdahl said. “I think when that goes away it’s time to hang it up, but the first week of practice, that’s the best time of the year for me.”

While the Mustangs do not have their full array of late-game plays integrated into the playbook, Amdahl has a variety of choices at his disposal from more than two decades of coaching.

He said the key is to explain it well enough that the players can go out and execute it in a high-pressure situation.

“We have those nuggets on the bench as I’m sure a lot coaches do. You hope that you can explain it properly in the short time that you have in the time out and that your kids go out and execute it,” Amdahl said. “For the most part that’s why I’m happy with our kids, because mentally they understand how to execute those things and that’s ultimately what it comes down to. I can only do so much from the bench. They players do a lot of that work.”

Time will tell just how many of the remaining Waubay-Summit games will be determined on the final possession, but one thing is for sure, it’s been an extremely unique start to the season.

“Honestly, I don’t have anything to say about it, because it is mind boggling to me that things work out that way,” Amdahl said. “I do know that I would for sure rather win ugly, than lose pretty.”