For at least two nights a year, Orion Thompson and Erik Skoglund will be looking to beat the other one, maybe even badly. For the other 363 or so, they'll go right back to being the best friends that they've been since junior high school.

With Skoglund heading into his second season with the Spearfish boys' basketball team and Thompson preparing to take over as the new head boys' basketball coach at Sturgis Brown High School, the two former teammates at Howard High School and then Sioux Falls College will be trying to figure out a way to beat the one guy who probably knows him best.

"He and I have been tied together since about sixth grade, and our families have been long-time friends, so it's really exciting to get back into close proximity with them and keep our friendship going," Thompson said.

Thompson, a former associate head coach at Dakota State and Si-Tanka Huron, was hired to take over the Scoopers head position after Ethan Dschaak resigned to pursue a job as a principal.

"After college our basketball careers have kind of gone on separate paths, and now we're going to have to go head-to-head" Skoglund said. "But, it's going to be exciting on road trips when we head East River to be able to get scouting reports that night. Now I've got a guy I can trust on the road when you go up against the big, bad Sioux Falls teams."

But the rivalry games between the Spartans and Scoopers? Who will have the upper-hand in that game? As usually happens, the coach with the most talent will probably prevail, especially when tactical surprises might be few and far between.

"We've always stayed in touch and exchanged playbooks and ideas and things," Skoglund said. "I've got a stockpile of his stuff, and he's got the same stockpile of mine."

Thompson and his wife, Darla, decided to move to Sturgis with their two daughters for a variety of reasons, but friends and family were the biggest. After living the life of a college coach for most of the past decade, Thompson looked around and saw what was most important.

"I have a little 4-year-old daughter and now a little 7-month-old daughter and I found myself working far, far too many hours during the week and kind of missing too much of my 4-year-old's upbringing," Thompson said.

"Having a second one kind of really put a twist in everything. I'm a big family guy and think that's one of the most important things to anybody, and I'm looking forward to getting to a point where I might still over-work. But I won't be working as much. And then the stability, where you can be somewhere a while, versus being worried about whether you're going to get the boot every year."

Thompson's experience and character played heavily into Sturgis' decision to bring Thompson on board. Thompson does not have a teaching job in the district yet, and is currently planning to substitute teach full-time until a position in the district opens up.

"We really had an excellent pool of applicants but (Thompson) came across with a great combination of experience, enthusiasm and great character," Sturgis activities director Mike Paris said. "Everything we were looking for, he had. We think he's going to do the job for us, and he's pretty fired up and ready to get going.

"We're glad to have him on."

Thompson also sees some real promise in the program. While a couple of standout juniors, Seth Bachand and Joey Olson, would be the first thing most fans would point to, Thompson thinks there are a lot of players in town ready to step up.

"I think both Seth and Joey are going to be a joy to coach," Thompson said. "They've obviously been well coached since a young age on how to play, and how to play hard. It doesn't hurt that they're both very talented individuals. I think there are also a lot of kids in that system that are really looking for an opportunity to show what they've got. I don't think there is going to be much fall off after those two. I think there are a lot of kids up there with kind of that workman-type attitude and that's what we want. If we get beat, let's get beat, let's not beat ourselves by not working hard."

Effort, as always, shouldn't be a problem during the big game with the Spartans, though.

"It's funny, here we are going to be the big arch-rivals a couple of times a year and hate each others guts," Thompson said of he and Skoglund, with more than a little chuckle in his throat. "The rest of the time we'll just go back to being best friends."