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"You can have the best season in the school's history, but if you don't get to Lincoln, it taints your accomplishments." -- Coach Anderson
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| Ryan Eddie's 12 points in the second quarter helped Wahoo push the lead to 14 points. |
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| Troy Johnston provides some of the defensive pressure that was a key to the Wahoo victory over Platteview. |
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| "They play should good defense. We couldn't match them point for point." -- Platteview coach, John McGill |
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| With his 25 points in the Platteview game, Jason Glock totaled 105 in the tournament. |
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| This was senior, Randy Hoffman's third District net. |
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As Expected
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| a chance |
Platteview District Video
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A District final game against a team with a 7 - 13 record would appear to be a cake walk. And when your team is #1 and undefeated, there should be little cause for concern. But when the tournament was over, Wahoo’s Coach Anderson and his staff admitted to “sleepless nights” of preparation and anxiety. While it was obvious that the Warriors should defeat the Platteview Trojans and claim their fourth consecutive District Championship, a look at the record quickly showed that if everything had gone the way it should, the Trojans wouldn’t even be on the court. In many ways, Platteview was a dangerous opponent. First of all, they were “hot,” experiencing some late season success and “peaking at the right time.” Secondly, they were winning with effective three point shooting, something that can be difficult to stop when a team is “hot.” And thirdly, they were the “Cinderella” team, playing loose, with nothing to lose, happy to even be in the championship. That was quite a contrast to the Warriors, a team who was expected to be there and as Coach Anderson would admit, “if we didn’t make it to state, the whole string of wins would become secondary.” To reach their goal and get to state, the Warriors would have to be the bad boys and rip the shoes off of Cinderella.
The District Final was the third game in four nights for both teams. Wahoo was perhaps the better rested, having emptied the bench early in the Ashland game and having made good use of substitutes in the defeat of Waverly. But Platteview had the adrenaline flowing, coming off of two exciting wins to get to the finals. The Trojans were looking for one more inspired effort as their coach, John McGill admitted they had “watched ‘Hoosiers’ all day.” On the other hand, Coach Anderson saw his team come out in the first quarter playing like they were afraid to lose: “I think we were tight in the first quarter. At a district championship game anything can happen. We just played awfully conservative.” Down only 9 - 13 at the end of the first quarter, Platteview’s Gary Fibich scored his 8th point of the game at the start of the second quarter and drew the Trojans to within two. But then the clock struck midnight. Ryan Eddie sparked the Warriors with 3 three pointers. Leading 32 - 21 with less than two minutes to go in the half, Jason Glock netted a three and a foul was called after the shot. Glock completed the five point play with two freethrows and Wahoo went in at half time with a 38 - 24 lead. Any hopes the Trojans had of turning their pumpkin back into a carriage quickly disappeared as Wahoo opened the third quarter with an intense defensive effort and outscored Platteview 15 - 1 in the first five minutes. Coach McGill saw it slipping away: “We were hanging with them. You could feel our baskets were coming real hard and theirs were coming relatively easy.” When the fourth quarter began, the Trojans found themselves looking at a score familiar to Wahoo opponents -- they were down by 28. The final score was a sound 76 - 45 defeat for Platteview. But, like so many Wahoo opponents, Coach McGill really didn’t see the result as a negative: “My kids played their guts out this district tournament. We feel honored to have a chance to play a team like Wahoo.”
There was somewhat a sigh of relief from the Wahoo side when the nets came down and the players, coaches and fans celebrated their fourth district title. As the Lincoln Journal Star reported it, there was “polite applause” and then the “fans quietly slipped out of the gym.” Some pressure had clearly been released. Coach Anderson expressed it, “Now we can relax and not worry about not getting there (the state tournament).” The coach also made a rare reference to the win streak, noting that “winning 61 games in a row in Class A or Class B is pretty darn near impossible, but our kids have done it.” The excitement of the reality of a return to the state tournament was beginning to seep in and the smiles grew broader as one by one the coaches were dragged to the locker room for the ceremonial shower. In a sense, the team had reached its stated goal -- they would have a chance to defend their title. As for those fans who were quietly leaving the Bellevue West gym, everything was just as expected.
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Ryan Eddie to Jason Glock to Randy Hoffman; Bernie Inbody to Glock to Steve Volin; Eddies three 3's in the second quarter; Mike Dvorak to Glock in the post; Steal and outlet to Eddie, ahead to Dvorak for the drive; Eddie to Glock in the high post; Troy Johnston steal and outlet to Eddie, ahead to Dvorak, crosscourt to Johnston with the touch pass to Glock for the baseline jumper; Glock with drop-off to Johnston; Eddie to Hoffman in the post for the turnaround; Volin with the offensive board and putback.
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| Wahoo |
13
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25
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19
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19
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76
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| Platteview |
9
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15
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5
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16
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45
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| Platteview |
fg |
ft |
3pt. |
pts |
| J. Glock |
9/15 |
6/7 |
1/3 |
25 |
| Hoffman |
6/8 |
2/12 |
0 |
14 |
| Eddie |
6/16 |
1/1 |
2/8 |
18 |
| Johnston |
1/1 |
1/2 |
0 |
2 |
| Inbody |
0/2 |
0/0 |
0/2 |
0 |
| Simons |
0/1 |
0/0 |
0/1 |
0 |
| Dvorak |
2/5 |
2/2 |
0 |
6 |
| Toline |
0/0 |
1/2 |
0 |
1 |
| Volin |
4/4 |
2/2 |
0 |
10 |
| Total |
28/52 |
14/26 |
6/21 |
76 |
| Platteview |
16/41 |
7/13 |
6/17 |
45 |
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| Wahoo fans filled the Bellevue West gym for the District final. |
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| The Warrior fans obviously viewed the District Tournament as "easy." |
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| Steve Volin displays the District net. |
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| Although the celebrations appeared subdued, the players were exuberant as they doused the coaches in the shower -- even the camera man got wet. |
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| 12/26/09 |
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