-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Hunter Horn of St. Edmond

DES MOINES — The top-ranked (Class 1A) St. Edmond boys hope to make Des Moines their home for the next four games.

The Gaels (22-2 overall) look to secure a return trip to the state tournament here Saturday night when they face Riverside (14-10) in the Substate 7 final.

Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the Knapp Center on the campus of Drake University. Defending 1A state champion Madrid will face Woodbine in the game before at 5:30 p.m.

Winners of 12 in a row, St. Edmond played all three district games at home, winning by an average of 28 points. They are led by senior Hunter Horn, as the school’s career scoring leader averages 26 points on 57 percent shooting from the field with nine rebounds per game.

Classmate Carson Bargfrede adds 13 points and fellow senior Jakob Koopman is at nine points with 8.5 rebounds. Jack McElroy, another 12th-grader, averages six assists per game and sports a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

But nobody has been hotter from the field than Grant Galles, as the senior has scored 58 points over his last three games with 14 made 3-pointers during that time.

St. Edmond head coach Adolph Kochendorfer, who led the program to its only state championship and owns four runner-up finishes on his resume, is 10-3 all-time with the Gaels in substate finals. They have won each of the last seven since 2004.

Riverside stunned Bedford after knocking off the No. 1 seed in the district, Southwest Valley, in the round before. The Bulldogs are another 3-point shooting team, as almost half of their attempts are from deep this year.

Peyton Amdor leads the way at 17 points and six rebounds per game, as Cole Jeppesen adds 11 points and five assists. Owen Fenner, a junior like Amdor and Jeppesen, chips in nine points.

In another substate final, Bishop Garrigan (22-2) takes on South Winneshiek (21-3) from Mason City. The third-ranked Golden Bears have won nine of their last 10 and hold a win over St. Edmond earlier this year.

Bishop Garrigan captured the eight-player state football title this past fall, as several of those players are also key contributors on the hardwood. Leading scorer Michael Joyce averages 18 points per game, Amaury Thomas adds 15 points and 13 rebounds, Carter Schwab averages 14.5 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Tate Foertsch adds 6.5 rebounds.

South Winneshiek is also 9-1 in its last 10, as the Warriors are led by seniors Matson Winings, Carson Streeter and Braiden Todd. Winings averages 18 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, Streeter adds 15.6 points and Todd 14 points with five assists.

North Union (15-9) heads to Storm Lake to play second-ranked MMCRU (24-1) after knocking off Belmond-Klemme. The Warriors are led by Khael Jones, as the senior averages 21 points, almost eight rebounds and six assists per game.

Kamden Bork paces MMCRU at 15.5 points, with Wyatt Alesch and Michael Schmillen each in double figures. The Royals were the Class A state football champions this past season.

The remaining substate finals will see Calamus-Wheatland face No. 4 Burlington Notre Dame, ninth-rated Bellevue Marquette plays Montezuma, Boyden-Hull meets No. 5 Coon Rapids-Bayard and East Marshall takes on sixth-ranked Bellevue.