2A championship drive is bittersweet for Crosby-Ironton

If only the tears that formed in the eyes of Crosby-Ironton coach Dave Galovich after his team advanced to the Class 2A championship game with a victory on Friday at Target Center were tears of joy.

If only the Rangers could celebrate their tense 66-60 win over St. Bernard's, knowing a victory today would seal a perfect season and set off a celebration in the small central Minnesota town of Crosby.

But try as they have, the Rangers cannot remove themselves altogether from the reality that funding woes have set up the real threat that the basketball team no longer will compete after this season.

Unless the community of 2,500 can find a way to come up with $250,000 by the middle of April, all extracurricular activities could be eliminated.

"Private funding is going well,'' Crosby-Ironton athletic director Dave Niemi said. "We're sitting at about $46,000 right now. But we're a small town. We only have so many resources.''

Rangers senior guard Bryce Tesdahl, who scored a game-high 22 points, said the players would like to think winning a state championship would somehow end any thought of eliminating basketball.

"[The state championship game] is going to be huge,'' Tesdahl said. "It's going to be huge for our whole town.''

Fourteen sports could be eliminated as well as the music and yearbook programs. As Niemi pointed out, the $250,000 would be a "Band-Aid" to keep the programs alive for another year.

After that, any hopes would depend on a referendum being passed.

A levy failed to pass in November.

"Most of the people who came down here to chase this team around probably spent more than they would have seen in a tax increase,'' Niemi said. "But it's a hard fight to say something like that to people.''

Galovich said he has not used the financial crisis as a motivator for his team. The reality is the bottom line will dictate whether the Rangers will survive another season.

Niemi said there were faces in the Target Center crowd that Crosby-Ironton supporters hadn't seen in 20 years.

His hope is that many of them will find a way to keep athletics alive at their hometown school.

"Being in the state tournament has tied our community together more than it has been in a long time,'' Niemi said. "We hope it will pay dividends.''

The administration has sent 10,000 letters to alumni around the world asking for help. The initiative comes with a cost, but it is a classic case of needing to spend some money to make money.

In the meantime, the irony of Crosby-Ironton's nearly-perfect season is not lost on the Raiders.

"This is a reality that is just smacking us in the face right now,'' Niemi said. "We're one win away from winning a state championship and maybe one month away from saying to the kids we're not going to be able to do this next year.''

Dean Spiros • dspiros@startribune.com