Wahoo’s opening game of the 1992 B3 District Tournament was the classic “David and Goliath” contest. While the Warriors were undefeated and the number one ranked team in Class B, their opponent, Omaha Cathedral was 5 - 15. For the fans, this was considered a warmup game, an easy win where the starters could get their tournament feet wet and then rest while the reserves got some valuable experience. But for the coaches, things always appeared a little different. While Coach Anderson and company were clearly confident, they knew that the landscape of tournament basketball was littered with Goliaths that had been overconfident, lackadaisical in their approach, or just had an incredibly bad night. With the advent of the three point goal coaches knew how quickly any team could cut into a lead if they got hot from beyond the arc. And the paranoid awareness all coaches had of how easily such things as an inopportune injury or a collection of foul trouble kept the Wahoo coaches focused; and they in turn kept the Wahoo squad of 1992 focused.

One advantage previous teams had enjoyed was a first round home game. For the B3 district of 1992, that was changed and Wahoo would travel to Bellevue West for their game against Cathedral. Playing at a neutral site and facing a Wahoo team with less tournament experience than previous first round opponents had faced, the Cathedral Cardinals might have been positioned to embrace their role as David. But this “inexperienced” Wahoo team still had much more of a tournament pedigree than the Omaha team, and although “having all the pressure on them” was perhaps even more determined than the previous Wahoo teams to prove themselves.

The teams took the floor on Friday night, February 28th. It only took 35 seconds for the Warriors to show they were ready to defend their title. On the opening jump ball, Trent Toline tipped the ball to Joel Weyand who hit Justin Anderson cutting to the basket for the opening score. The ensuing full court press produced a Jeff Simons steal and he was fouled driving to the basket. Simons converted two freethrows. On the next possession, Weyand deflected a pass, Simons got the steal and Weyand again hit Anderson for the layup. Anderson was fouled and made his freethrow to complete the conventional three point play -- with the clock reading 7:25 to go in the first quarter, Wahoo already led 7 - 0. By the end of the quarter, Wahoo led 24 - 4, the only Cathedral points coming on four freethrows. An eight point burst to start the second quarter put the Warriors ahead 32 - 4. Then, as Coach Anderson put it, Wahoo “lost its intensity.” The Cardinals were able to score 18 points in the quarter and “trim” the Wahoo lead to 44 - 22 at half. The “intensity” was back in the second half and Wahoo outscored Cathedral 53 - 13, producing a 97 - 35 first round win. All twelve of the players suited up for the game played, nine in the first quarter, and eleven of them scored. The starters sat out the fourth quarter and reserves Keith Klemme (7 points) and Sean Brennan (9 points) helped push the Wahoo score to near the century mark.

The expectations of the fans proved to be correct. The Cathedral Cardinals were not the David to Wahoo’s Goliath. The Warriors had gotten some tournament experience and they would be well rested when they took the floor for the semifinal game. Coach Anderson: “It’s nice to get a game under our belts on this court.”

Earlier that night, Elkhorn Mt. Michael downed Omaha Flanagan 71 - 56 to set up a rematch with the Warriors. On Saturday night Boys Town knocked off Elkhorn 55 - 47 and Omaha Roncalli defeated Blair 82 - 56 -- Boys Town would face Roncalli in the other semifinal. Looking at the teams left in the district, Coach Anderson commented, “We know we’ve got our work cut out for us the rest of the way.” For the moment, Goliath had prevailed, but other potential David’s were on the horizon; and each one was a little larger in stature.


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That Saturday in Alliance, Nebraska, the Class B8 district got under way and the Ogallala Indians had it even easier than Wahoo. In a seven team district, Ogallala had been the top seed and drawn a bye. The coming Monday, Ogallala would face Hershey in their semifinal game.