Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Hannahville’s Francis Kidd (10) shoots a layup as Mid Peninsula’s Ben Lehtikangas (bottom right) looks on during a Divison 4 district opener Wednesday at Rapid River.

RAPID RIVER — The Hannahville Soaring Eagles are making history.

Just a little over a month after setting the U.P. record for most 3-pointers made in a game with 24 in a 73-39 win over Big Bay de Noc on Feb. 5, the Eagles advanced to their first district championship game in school history with a 72-55 win over Mid Peninsula in a Division 4 semifinal Wednesday night at Rapid River.

Hannahville, which won a district game for the first time since 2004, visits Rapid River Friday at 7 p.m. for the district title after the Rockets knocked off Superior Central 70-30 in Wednesday night’s second semifinal.

“This is big for our program,” Hannahville coach Josh Eagle said. “We’ve never competed at a level like that in a (Division 4) game. Typically, we just come in to get our guys involved so (that they can build experience). I’ve got gym rats — kids who are in the gym five or six times a week — so I’m thankful to have kids with that attitude.”

Hannahville (16-5) led 17-11 after the first quarter before Zach Englund, who reached 1,000 career points in the first half, cut it to 17-13 on a layup in the first minute of the second.

“I really, really thought my kids did a tremendous job all year,” Wolverines coach Mark Branstrom said. “They really played from the heart, and I think you could see that tonight, too. Zach Englund was representative of that tonight. He played his rear-end off.”

However, the Soaring Eagles’ Joe Larson dropped a triple to make it 20-13 with 6:48 left in the first half.

“(Winning) feels great,” Larson said. “It’s crazy to think that — there’s a first time for everything (going to the district championship).

“Everybody always said, ‘Oh, it’s just Hannahville,’ but it feels so good that we have respect now.”

Hannahville’s tempo and aggression started to take its toll on the Wolverines (8-13) with five of its 11 remaining points in the quarter coming from the free throw line.

After Englund — the game’s leading scorer with 32 points — sank two from the line just short of two minutes into the second quarter, the Wolverines were held scoreless over the next three minutes while the Soaring Eagles added two more triples.

Hannahville led 35-24 at the half and kept up its tempo in the second half to seal the game.

“(Although) I’m never satisfied, I have to be happy with our energy and our activeness toward the ball,” Eagle said. “Off the ball, we had great help defense. There were a couple periods where we were in help position the whole time, and either you’re going to force up a long shot or try to force it inside. Overall, I’m super proud of them.

“I’m super proud of our community. We have awesome fans. They followed us everywhere no matter where they’re at.”

Larson led the Soaring Eagles with 28 points and three triples. Gage Sagataw followed with 16 points and four 3s.

“(Speed was our issue),” Branstrom said. “We get beat by speed all the time. It’s been our nemesis. We need to play our style of basketball or get big stops on defense. We’ve been pretty fortunate in the past that if we weren’t shooting well, we could stop them on defense. Tonight, it was just a combined (issue) of not shooting the ball well and not being able to keep up.”

Mid Peninsula 11 13 15 16 — 55

Hannahville 17 18 14 23 — 72

Mid Peninsula — Z. Englund 32, O’Neil 4, M. Englund 3, J. McNally 3, Temple 3, Z. McNally 3, Constantino 2, VanDamme 2, Lehtikangas 2, Trudell 1. F: 18; Fouled out: Trudell; FT: 13-21; 3-point field goals: M. Englund 1, J. McNally 1, Temple 1, Z. McNally 1.

Hannahville — Larson 28, G. Sagataw 16, Thunder 9, D. Sagataw 8, Jackson 8, Kidd 3. F: 15; Fouled out: none; FT: 6-14; 3-point field goals: G. Sagataw 4, Larson 3, D. Sagataw 2, Jackson 2, Kidd 1.