Perham boys basketball makes memorable run to state under first-year coach

From a new hire to a state-stage finish

Perham’s boys basketball run to Target Center was more than a postseason burst. It was the clearest sign yet that a program change made almost a year earlier, when Grant Dierkhising was hired in April 2025, had taken root in Perham High School and across ISD No. 549.

The Yellowjackets had not won Section 8AA and reached Minneapolis since 2022, and this season did not hand them a clean march to the top seed. It asked for patience, adjustment and buy-in. By the end, Perham had turned an uneven year into an 18-12 season, a Section 8AA championship and a return to state that gave Otter Tail County a fresh benchmark for what the program can look like under a first-year coach.

How Perham climbed through Section 8AA

The real proof came in the bracket. Perham entered the 2026 Section 8AA tournament as the No. 4 seed, which meant the Yellowjackets had to earn every step instead of cruising through it. They answered with a decisive opening win over Crookston, 96-68, on March 5, then followed that with a 72-45 victory over Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on March 7.

The next round sharpened the test. Perham knocked off East Grand Forks, the top seed, 69-50 on March 11, a result that shifted the tournament from a promising run into a legitimate statement. Four days later, the Yellowjackets finished the job with a 66-61 win over Staples-Motley on March 13 to capture Section 8AA and advance to state.

That sequence matters because it shows the run was not built on one hot shooting night or one favorable matchup. It was a four-game postseason climb against a bracket that got harder, not easier, and Perham kept getting better as the games became more consequential.

What changed around the program

The story of this season is not just that Perham won. It is how the team won after a coaching change and during a roster year that mixed experience with younger pieces. The 2025-2026 roster reflected that blend, with players including Bradyn Anderson, Tate Zacharias, Isaiah Farrell, Austan Adamczyk, Jayden Bormann, Sam Dale, Dominik Reyes, Michael Beach, Reid Wokasch, Kade Raser, Cypress Thiel, Nathan Rustad, Joshua Grewe, Micah Leonhard and Zeke Morris.

That kind of roster makeup matters in a small-school program where continuity can be fragile and expectations can change quickly. A first-year head coach has to establish habits, language and accountability before the postseason ever arrives, and this season suggests Dierkhising found a way to do that without asking the group to become someone it was not.

Perham’s 2022 team provides the clearest comparison point. That group also won Section 8AA and reached state, but its trip ended quickly with a 51-40 loss to Caledonia in the first round. Three years later, the Yellowjackets were back in the same conversation, but this time the season review reads like a program that had learned how to get back there on a different timeline and with a different leadership structure.

State confirmed the turnaround, even in defeat

Perham’s Class AA state tournament appearance began March 24, 2026 at Target Center, where the Yellowjackets fell to Goodhue 70-49 in the quarterfinal round. The state field was spread across Williams Arena, Target Center and Concordia University’s Gangelhoff Center from March 24-28, giving the tournament a prominent stage and putting Perham in front of one of the strongest settings in Minnesota high school basketball.

The Yellowjackets were not done after that first loss. They returned to consolation play and were beaten by Jackson County Central, 69-55, on March 26. The final record settled at 18-12, a mark that captures both the bumps in the regular season and the late surge that carried them to Minneapolis.

That finish matters because it showed the state appearance was earned, not gifted. Perham did not merely benefit from a favorable section; it beat Crookston, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, East Grand Forks and Staples-Motley in sequence, then carried that postseason identity onto the state stage. Even the losses at Target Center and in consolation play did not erase the larger picture: this was a team that found its footing when the pressure rose.

Why the run matters in Perham

In a community like Perham, where high school basketball remains one of the clearest public markers of shared identity, a state trip becomes more than a line in a record book. It gives younger players a visible standard, gives the offseason a purpose and tells the town that a program under new leadership can arrive at the same destination the old one reached.

That is what makes this season feel different from a simple recap of wins and losses. The Yellowjackets did not just get back to state. They did it after a coaching hire in April 2025, through a Section 8AA bracket that tested them at every turn, and with a roster that mixed upperclassmen and underclassmen into a group that learned how to peak at the right time.

For Perham, the 2026 run was not the end of a story. It was the clearest sign yet that the next version of Yellowjackets basketball is already here.