Many times when a team wins a championship, the Championship game is well remembered, but the narrow second round victory is easily forgotten. When the brackets were drawn for Wahoo’s B2 District in 1988, the seeds were based totally on won - loss records, regardless of the subjective evaluation of team talent. While Wahoo, ranked #3 in the final Class B season poll (OWH) was the #1 seed and Gretna, # 7 in the final poll was the #2 seed, Gretna definitely got the easier draw in the semifinal as Gretna faced Raymond Central (a team Wahoo had easily beaten earlier in the season) while the Warriors would play Waverly, a team that had been in and out of the Class B ratings during the season.
The Wahoo trip to the District Semifinal would be a short one. The District Tournament was being hosted across town at Wahoo Neumann High School. The Wahoo people were in hopes that the advantage of the short trip and the familiarity with the Neumann gym would help offset the challenge of playing a larger school such as Waverly. Waverly brought an 11 - 9 record to the contest, but received the utmost respect from the Wahoo coaches as they were aware that Waverly had played the much tougher schedule. Coach Anderson hoped that his team’s experience with the pressure of district tournament play from the previous year would help.
It was standing room only in the Neumann gym when Wahoo squared off against Waverly. The game was a close one all the way. With seven ties and nine lead changes in the first half, it was obvious this one was going to be a nail biter. But Wahoo was able to put on a scoring spurt and post a 10 point lead early in the 4th quarter. From then on they were just trying to hang on for the victory. Troy Glock’s three pointer would be the only fieldgoal scored by Wahoo in the fourth quarter -- they would rely on freethrows to secure the win. And making freethrows down the stretch in a game that could mean the end of the season is a lot of pressure. For Wahoo, that steady hand came from a most unexpected source. Freshman, Jason Glock stepped to the line six times in the fourth quarter, sinking five of them. The final result was a 58 - 54 victory and a ticket to the championship game.
Get Back, Pt. 3 -- satisfaction |
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| Dan Bartek and Steve Carmer run a high - low option to score against Waverly. |
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| Lincoln Journal Season Final Regular Season Rankings |
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| Omaha World Herald Final Regular Season Rankings |
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"We haven't been a lot of close games this year. You don't know if that's good or bad. When you haven't been in a pressure cooker, you don't know what it's all about." -- Coach Anderson
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| View details of the game against Waverly. |
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