McDonald family tradition continues with Forest Lake Rangers
FOREST LAKE, Minn. — The Forest Lake Area High School Rangers boys basketball varsity team is in good hands under their head coach Kyle McDonald.
The McDonalds are one of the first families of Minnesota basketball. Kyle is the son of Mike McDonald, the longtime coach at Cambridge-Isanti High School, and the grandson of Bob McDonald, a legend at Chisholm High School where he coached for 59 years and won a state-best 1,012 games before retiring in 2014. Even Kyle’s older brother, Rhett, coaches at Duluth East High School.
The 2021-22 season is McDonald’s first as the varsity head coach at Forest Lake and he earned his first win on Dec. 17. The Rangers faced off against the Moundsview High School Mustangs and earned a 65-57 win at the Mustangs’ home court.
McDonald’s first win comes 66 years after his grandfather’s.
“Grandpa was watching over me tonight and I felt it all the way through the day,” McDonald said.
The win comes after the Rangers started their season 0-3.
“These guys work their butts off and I couldn’t be more proud of them and our staff,” McDonald said after the game.
Sophomore Owen Waldoch led Forest Lake with 22 points. Sophomore guard Nolan Dumonceaux scored 20 and senior Nick Bartlett had 14.
Waldoch, Bartlett and Dumonceaux continue to lead the Rangers through their rough start to the season. Waldoch is averaging 19.9 points per game and has scored 159 points total in just eight games. Bartlett is averaging 17.8 points per game and has scored 142 points total also in just eight games. Dumonceaux is averaging 9.3 points per game and has scored 65 points overall in the eight games that the Rangers have played in this season.
After dropping to 1-4 after losing to Centennial High School at home on Dec. 23, the Rangers came back strong with a 68-55 win against St. Paul Johnson on Dec. 28 to advance to the semifinals in the Twin Cities Orthopedic (TCO) Holiday Classic, a tradition of boys basketball holiday tournaments since 2009. The competition was held at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.
After a pair of losses to Hopkins and Big Lake, the Rangers finished fourth in the TCO Holiday Classic. According to a tweet from the TCO Holiday Classic Twitter page, Bartlett made the All-Tournament team. He led the Rangers in their loss against Hopkins with 23 points and again with 21 points in their loss against Big Lake in the third-place game of the tournament.
Congrats to the 2021 #TCOHolidayClassic All-Tournament Team
Hopkins- Elvis Nnaji(MVP)
Hopkins – CJ O’Hara
MPLS Southwest – Hakeem Ford
Big Lake – Carson Kunz
Forest Lake – Nick Bartlett
MPLS Washburn – Cass Ramberg— TCO Holiday Classic (@ClassicTco) December 31, 2021
The Rangers, now 2-6, face Stillwater in their next game on Jan. 4.
McDonald is ready to lead the Rangers to a successful season.
“I remember talking to my dad and my brother less than two years ago and they asked me where my dream job is,” he said. “I said it was Forest Lake. It’s where I always wanted to be. I had great respect for them when I was in high school. And it’s just been a dream come true, being the head coach here.”
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.
