headlines

By 1995 winning had become an ingrained habit for Wahoo basketball.  And most of the time those wins were lopsided destructions of the opponent.  The newspaper headlines from the '94-'95 season show that the 1995 Warriors were maintaining that habit:  "Warriors Thump …," "Warriors Roll," "Warriors Dominate," "Warriors Soar," and "Warriors Cruise."

Six times the 1995 Warriors beat their opponent by 40 points or more.  The biggest margins were posted in the regular season games against Fort Calhoun and Conestoga.  The Warriors downed the Pioneers by 49 points, 95 – 46.  Leading 24 – 13 at the end of the first quarter, Wahoo quickly put the game out of reach in the second as Mike Simons and Eric Eddie combined for a 17 point run that put Wahoo up by 32 at half.  Eddie scored a career high 31 points.  Coach Watton's post game comment illustrates the somewhat ho-hum attitude towards these lopsided games:  "This is a game that really doesn't help us much … but we'll take the win."  The beat down of Conestoga was viewed in a little different light.  Wahoo once again got off to a great start, scoring a season best 30 points in the first quarter.  But Wahoo sleep walked through the second quarter, scoring a mere 18 points and allowing 15 by the Cougars.  A halftime wakeup call produced the season's best third quarter as Wahoo posted 35 points on their way to a 106 – 57 victory.  The hypercritical nature of Wahoo basketball is reflected in Coach Watton's displeasure over the second quarter:  "If you come out and let up, they'll get back in the game so quick."

In recent years, Wahoo had beaten up on Raymond Central as much as any team and 1995 was no different.  The Warriors dominated the Mustangs 102 – 54 in the Holiday Tournament as Wahoo effectively applied full court pressure successfully for the first time in the season.  This win did please Coach Watton as he reflected, "It was a welcome sight to see us effectively run the press."  Wahoo forced 9 Raymond Central turnovers in the second quarter alone and a total of 20 for the game.  To add insult to injury, Eric Eddie connected on a three at the end of the first half and Eric Smith drained a buzzer beater trey at the end of the game to push the score over the century mark.

The 1995 team's third 100 point game came in the next to last week of the regular season.  Wahoo had its biggest half time lead of the season, 64 – 26 over Valley and posted its highest score of the season with a 109 – 65 win.  Wahoo attempted a season high 84 fieldgoals, connecting on 43 for an impressive 51%, including 8-for-19 from the three point line (42%).  Valley's coach, Charlie Doeden commented on the fast pace of the game:  "Every rebound it seemed like they would fire it back and beat us for the easy two."  Five players scored in double figures for Wahoo:  Mike Simons (30), Eric Eddie (25), Josh Anderson (19), Tim Bohaty (11) and Ryan Fiala (10).

The final 40 point win came in a very big game as Wahoo defeated David City in the district championship.  The Warriors posted a 82 – 42 win behind a 30 – 10 second period.  It was the most lopsided district win in school history.  David City coach Tony Weinandt lamented the second period scoring burst:  "… they started to get some buckets in their transition game and pretty soon a 6-point game turned into a 26 point game."

Wahoo did have some tense moments in '94-'95, but most of those came in games that were billed as major challenges.  Except for games the against Omaha Roncalli, Ashland, and Grand Island Central Catholic, Wahoo was viewed as a heavy favorite.  In the season opener against Class B Seward the Warriors might have been favored due to the Wahoo tradition, but with so much new about the 1995 team, an opening season loss might not have been seen as unrealistic.  And early on, the young Warriors looked like they might succumb to opening night pressure.  Wahoo trailed by three at the end of the first quarter and the Blue Jays stretched that to a seven point lead early in the second period.  But Wahoo responded as Mike Simons led a six point run at the end of the half to put Wahoo up by two.  A solid third quarter (16 – 7) and a dominating fourth quarter (28 – 8) ultimately produced a 75 – 44 win.  Mike Simons showed what would come to be expected of him as he recorded his first thirty point game (32).  Coach Watton gave a sigh of relief and commented, "The kids had to work.  Down the road, that will be better …."

The second game of the season produced some nail biting as Wahoo led by only one at the half.  Eric Eddie was on the bench much of the half with three first quarter fouls.  As Logan View repeatedly beat Wahoo's full court pressure for easy layups, Coach Watton dropped his team back to a half court 1-3-1 in the third period.  The result was a defensive shutdown as Wahoo outscored the Raiders 29 -1 in the third period.  Watton assessed the success:  "We came out in the third quarter and did what we needed to do."  Wahoo won the game easily, 81 – 46.

The Warriors travelled to Bennington in the third game of the season and again "struggled" (by Wahoo standards) as they gave up 36 points in the first half and led the Badgers by only 7.  Again, the Warriors found themselves giving up easy baskets as Bennington beat the Wahoo press.  After once again retreating to a half court defense the second half, the Warriors pulled ahead, outscoring Bennington 23 – 14 in the third period and coasting to a 90 – 61 win.  Coach Watton commented on the effort:  "We held them to 25 points in the second half which isn't bad, but it's not as good as I'd like to see."

For the most part, the 1995 Warriors had dominated their opponents as the headlines indicate.  As the regular season closed, the Aquinas headline read that Wahoo had "remained perfect" and the Schuyler headline indicated that the Warriors had "survived."  Ultimately those two headlines were most significant.  Wahoo's final regular season record was 22 – 0.  They were the sixth Wahoo team to record an undefeated season.  All the headlines reflected the same result – the Warriors of 1995 were winners.  That would remain the case until the final headline.