They filled the Wahoo High School gym on December 22, 1987. It was said to have been a “tournament atmosphere” as Coach Jim “Killer” Kane brought his Elkhorn Mt. Michael Knights to Wahoo. The contest pitted the undefeated #2 Knights against the Class B top ranked Wahoo Warriors (Omaha World Herald rankings). Along with reporters from the major newspapers, enthusiastic fans came out on a Tuesday night to find out which team was, indeed, the best of Class B. They expected a great game and they were not disappointed. Although Wahoo had been ahead throughout the contest, they only led by one early in the fourth quarter. Wahoo had failed to put the Knights away when they had several break away opportunities when leading by 12 in the third quarter. Mt. Michael had been struggling offensively all night as Wahoo employed a box-and-one defense on their leading scorer, Rob Noble. Steve Malousek drew the assignment on Noble most of the night, being spelled by Shawn Liliedahl off the bench. The two held Noble to his lowest point output of the season, allowing him just 10 points for the game and only two freethrows in the first half. But one point was as close as the Knights would come. Steve Carmer led the way for Wahoo, connecting on some pressure freethrows down the stretch. Wahoo came away with a 53 - 43 victory. Kane, who had scouted Wahoo a week earlier, said he had feared the worst when he saw Wahoo’s team speed. But he thought his team had played well, holding Wahoo well under its 73 point per game average. Both Coach Anderson and Coach Kane agreed that too much shouldn’t be made of a game played in December. Anderson pointed out that “This game won’t win you a state championship.” But at the same time, the Mt. Michael Coach observed that he thought the Warriors “are the best Class B team I’ve seen in four or five years.” And Coach Anderson thought the close contest might help his team down the road, “We need some tough games. We got one tonight. We’re not going to get much better winning by 40 points.”
So Wahoo took a break for the holidays, resuming play in the holiday tournament that alternated between Wahoo and Wahoo Neumann. This year, the Wahoo gym was the site for the tournament and Wahoo would face David City Aquinas in the first round. Perhaps the best indication of how high the expectations were reaching for the Warriors, the first half of the game was referred to as a “struggling” effort -- even though Wahoo led 39 - 21 and was in the process of another blowout that ended up 89 - 27. With ten minutes left to go in the game, the Warriors bench players got into the game and ran the score up even higher, adding 26 points to the total while allowing the Monarchs only two.
The Warriors were ready to flex their muscles again in the tournament finals as they faced a team that had beaten them twice the year before, Schuyler. In fact, Wahoo hadn’t beaten a Schuyler team since 1982. Wahoo jumped on the visiting Warriors early, building a 15 - 5 lead, then played even until the fourth quarter. Then Dan Bartek fouled out and it looked like Schuyler might have an opportunity, but Kevin Jeppson and the Wahoo defense took over. The Wahoo boys went on an 11 - 0 run and Jeppson put up 12 points in the quarter. The final result was another blowout: Wahoo 62, Schuyler 38.
Wahoo ended 1987 as the hottest team in Class B. Things looked good for the Warriors in 1988. They were averaging 73.4 points per game and holding opponents to 34.6, nearly a 40 point per game victory. The Omaha World Herald had them ranked #1. And looking down the Class B list, the only regular season challenge appeared to be #6 Syracuse, and the District presented a challenge from #10, Waverly. But, of course, Wahoo wasn’t looking ahead. At least Coach Anderson wasn’t: “... we have to quit listening to people telling us how good we are.” But the numbers spoke for themselves. They were pretty good. The expectations were high. |
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| Wahoo's pressing defense forced 22 Mt. Michael turnovers and held the Knights to 43 points. |
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| One of the strategies employed by the Wahoo teams were the "special defenses" that would focus on one or two of the opponents' best players -- the box and one, triangle and two, or other variations. The coaching staff came to call these defenses "slime" defenses. |
| "That (the box-and-one)'s hard on Noble. To be honest with you, it's just unfair." -- Jim "Killer" Kane |
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| "Wahoo has such great athletes and it has the much better basketball team." -- Leon Portrey, Aquinas Head Coach |
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| The January 5th, 1988 rankings from the Omaha World Herald showed Wahoo at the top with only Seward and Alliance matching the Warriors' undefeated record. In spite of the loss to Wahoo, Mt. Michael remained #5. |
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| To view the details of the final games of 1987, click on these links: Mt. Michael ... David City Aquinas ... Schuyler . |
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