1988 Home
THE YEAR

Introduction -- the one loss
High Expectations
Crash Test
Lessons Learned
Get Back
Realization
The Last Word

Crash Test -- cruise control


With a perfect 7 - 0 record, the Wahoo basketball machine accelerated into 1988 and quickly showed that all resistance was futile. The Warriors dispatched a 6 - 2 Yutan team, a 28 point win in which the only negative Coach Anderson could find was that there were too many freethrows disrupting the Warriors’ transition game. He said he “thought the game was called inconsistently.” Wahoo then faced top ten ranked Syracuse. The Rockets brought a 7 - 4 record to the matchup, having lost to some other top ten Class B teams. The Warriors were not impressed as they built a typical 17 point lead, aided by two technical fouls on the Syracuse bench. (Coach Leon Bose of Syracuse obviously found the officiating in this contest “inconsistent.”) The Rockets did make a push in the second half, but in the end it became a freethrow shooting contest in which neither team excelled. While the Warriors were shooting a sub-par 13 / 26, Syracuse was abysmal at 8 / 21. And the Warriors were only 4 / 10 in the fourth quarter. But Shawn Liliedahl and Dan Bartek each managed to sink two in the last two minutes to preserve the 58 - 51 win. The Warriors had grown accustomed to putting 70 or more points on the board and some were disappointed in the offense, but Coach Anderson thought it was good for Wahoo to experience a tighter game, commenting “I don’t think you want to wait until districts to experience a game like this.” The engine was still purring along.

Next up was a team that had beaten Syracuse, a road game against the 6 - 5 Raymond Central Mustangs. The Wahoo engine roared to a start as a pressing full court defense produced seven Mustang turnovers in the first quarter and Wahoo doubled the home team’s score at half time, 36 - 18. Then it was cruise control for the second half, eventually building as much as a 25 point lead. The officiating must have been adequate as this time the Wahoo mentor could only complain about his lack of opportunities to get his sports car out on the track: “We need to play some games. We’ve been going one game a week and you can do only so much in practice.” The irony was that this victory cost Wahoo a game as they earned a top seed in the Conference Tournament scheduled for the next week and would get a bye in the first round. While awaiting that semifinal conference game, the Warriors were recognized as a truly special team -- the Omaha World Herald ranked them #10 among all teams.

Perhaps the lack of a first round game made the Warriors a little impatient as they obviously wanted to dispatch their Conference Tournament semifinal opponent in a hurry. The Wahoo machine implanted its tread marks on the Badgers from Bennington, sprinting to a 20 - 4 lead. The Warriors then eased up and it actually looked somewhat like a game at the end of the half with Wahoo holding a mere 13 point lead. Ultimately Wahoo prevailed 64 - 43 in what Coach Anderson said “wasn’t a pretty game.” Obviously lining up against Wahoo lowered the standards of opposing coaches. Bennington coach, Jeff Graver commented, “we didn’t play all that bad.” The tenth win of the season put Wahoo in position to reach one of its goals -- a Capitol Conference Tournament Championship, a goal that had eluded last year’s state tournament team when they lost to the Rockets in the Conference Final. The Warriors looked forward to some sweet revenge as they would draw Syracuse, an overtime winner in their semifinal over Raymond Central, in the finals. Of course, the Warriors had beaten Syracuse already, and the game would be played on Wahoo’s home court. The Warriors were ready to roll. The Rockets were looking for a little revenge of their own.
Crash Test Pt. 2 -- sudden impact
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Steve Carmer scores 2 of his 16 points in the win over Syracuse.

On being ranked #10 in all classes, Coach Anderson remarked, ".. I've been around long enough that I'd hate to play a Class A schedule week in and week out."

"Even when they (Raymond Central) cut it to nine, I wasn't worried we were going to lose the ball game. We go in spurts." -- Coach Anderson

"They're beatable. It's going to have to take a good game by somebody like us." -- Dale Rasmussen, Raymond Central Head Coach

Troy Glock challenges Raymond Central's Steve Burks as he drives to the basket.

To view the details of the early 1988 games, click on these links: Yutan ... Syracuse ... Raymond Central ... Bennington
4/6/08