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THE YEAR

"Even though there's been a lot of talk of a rematch with Ashland or GICC, Coach Watton is making sure our focus is on Fairbury."
– Josh Anderson


"As I've said since last season, this is the perfect time for Wahoo to drop into C1. Were the Warriors in Class B, they would not be favored to win their unprecedented seventh title in eight seasons. But they can do it in C1."
-- Stu Pospisil

SHOCKER

dark horse .... anyone

dark horse

Wahoo was the only undefeated team in Class C1 in 1995.  That put them in an advantageous situation as the #1 seed.  Wahoo's first round opponent, the #8 seed Fairbury, was the only unranked team in the field.  The closest team to Wahoo's pedigree was Grand Island Central Catholic, the #2 seed with only one loss and that loss was to Wahoo.  But Wahoo was on the opposite side of the bracket from the Crusaders who would have a tough opening round game against Ashland.

In the Omaha World Herald, sports writer Stu Pospisil noted that the drop to Class C1 was good for the Warriors.  He didn't think the Warriors would have been favored to win the Class B title (Ralston was his pick over Norris, the team Wahoo defeated for the 1994 Class B championship).  But Pospisil picked Wahoo to win in Class C1.  Like everybody else, he predicted a rematch with GICC for the title.  If things didn't go as predicted, Pospisil thought Hartington Cedar Catholic was the likely "dark horse" in the running.

It appeared that all Wahoo had to do was show up to win its first round game over Fairbury.  But Coach Watton cautioned that the Jeffs should not be taken lightly.  While Fairbury was unranked (and not even mentioned as a contender) in the final season rankings, Coach Watton warned that "when you look at their schedule and see they play Beatrice and Norris and several other good teams you can understand why they have seven losses."  In fact, all seven of the Jeffs' losses were to Class B opponents.  Also to be considered was that Fairbury was a district champion, having won three games in a lose or go home situation, and they earned their state tournament entry with an upset of Centennial in the district final.

All of that might lead one to believe that Fairbury would be competitive with Wahoo.  But there was one other disadvantage for Fairbury:  the Jeffs might be playing without one of their best players.  Jeff Beerbohm, a 6'6" Sophomore, who averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds was doubtful to play having broken his hand in Fairbury's first round district win over Falls City.  Fairbury coach Phil Seevers noted, "I'd like to see him play because you don't know how many chances you'll get to play in the state tournament, but I don't want to risk his future for one game." 

Everything seemed to point to an easy first round win for Wahoo.  Still, Coach Watton cautioned his team and pointed to some first round struggles the Warriors had experienced before, such as a close game with an eighth seed, Sidney in the 1993 tournament.  Still, there was also Wahoo's intimidation factor.  Wahoo had all that experience, while the Jeffs hadn't been to the tournament since 1983.  Wahoo had all those titles and was favored by everybody.  Coach Seevers recognized his team's situation:  "We realize that they have a great tradition, but if we are going to have any chance to beat them, we can't let ourselves be in awe of them."  But according to Pospisil, Fairbury couldn't even achieve "dark horse" status.  Wahoo was ready to win and move on to the second round.