Wahoo fans journeyed to Bellevue West on a Monday night to cheer on the Warriors.


Mike Hancock makes a pass against Elkhorn Mt. Michael.
Mike Hancock scored five three's in the district semifinal.

"I thought one of the early keys was Mike hitting some threes. Mike hasn't been scoring a lot lately. Tonight he had a big night." -- Coach Anderson

Other Semifinal District Results:

Beatrice 65
Fairbury 46

Platteview 55
Gretna 52 (OT)

Lincoln Pius X 63
Raymond Central 47

Schuyler 73
Columbus Lakeview 46

Lexington 81
McCook 42

GICC 56
GI Northwest 44

Ogallala 72
Hershey 39

All of the teams picked to win their districts advanced to the finals in 1992.



STEPPING UP

a nice team

Elkhorn Mt. Michael had become a fixture on the Wahoo regular season schedule, facing the Warriors every year since the string of championships had begun in 1988. More often than not, the Knights had been considered one of Wahoo’s toughest tests. But all of the Wahoo teams had stepped up to that challenge and brought home a victory, including the 1992 version of the Warriors. During that time span, the Knights had been perennial contenders, playing in district finals for 13 of the previous 14 years. And Mt. Michael Coach, Jim Kane, had taken his Knights to the state tournament the previous two years, losing to Wahoo in the semifinals in 1991. Mt. Michael had given the 1992 Warriors one of their toughest tests back in January, losing to Wahoo by only seven points on Wahoo’s home court.

The Mt. Michael team that Wahoo faced in the B3 District semifinal was, however, a little bit weakened as their star guard, Ryan Moody, had been out for three weeks after being injured in an automobile accident. Moody, who Coach Kane had characterized as “the best point guard in the state” was back for the district tournament and cleared to play against Wahoo. The Warriors expected a defensive battle as the early season win over Mt. Michael had only produced 44 points, the lowest point total in five years. But this contest was quite different than the earlier matchup. Wahoo came out firing on offense. On the opening possession, Justin Anderson fed Trent Toline on the block for an easy two. Then, Mt. Michael took its only lead of the game on a Scott Kimjecik three that came off of an offensive rebound. Two freethrows by Jeff Simons followed by consecutive three pointers by Mike Hancock put Wahoo ahead to stay. By half time, the Warriors had pushed the lead to twenty points. The Wahoo scoring barrage was led by Jeff Simons’ 24, followed by Toline’s 18 and Hancock’s 15 (five three pointers). Coach Anderson’s evaluation: “Mt. Michael is a hard team to score this many points against. I was pleased with our defensive effort, but tonight our offensive effort was good.”

On the other side of the bracket, Omaha Roncalli put up a ten point scoring burst in the final minutes against Boys Town to earn a 72 - 65 win and a chance to face Wahoo in the district final. Roncalli owned two previous wins over Boys Town, by a total of four points, so Roncalli was thrilled to have pulled off the trifecta and have a shot at Wahoo and its 112 game winning streak. Roncalli coach, Doug Woodard commented, “You’re either No. 113 or you get to make history a little bit. Nobody’s going to remember who’s No. 113 if we lose, but if we win, people all over are going to know who it is.”

As Roncalli prepared to face the Warriors, the next night, the Mt. Michael Knights closed the book on their 1992 season and Coach Jim Kane evaluated his team’s effort against the Warriors. Kane suggested that the Warriors “had too many weapons” against his 1-3-1 zone and second guessed that a man defense might have been better. He noted that Wahoo was a tough team to beat if you let them get out to an early lead. The bottom line was that Mt. Michael would not make the district finals and would not be returning to the state tournament. When asked what he thought of the Wahoo team, Kane was perhaps a little worn down by five years and seven consecutive losses, and gave a somewhat understated appraisal: “They have a nice team.”

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In the B8 District in Alliance, Ogallala defeated Hershey 72 - 39. The Indians did make their district final and were still eyeing a return trip to state and perhaps their shot at what Coach Woodard had called “a little bit of history.”

html5 video converter by EasyHtml5Video.com v3.9.1
Wahoo vs. Elkhorn Mt. Michael -- 1) Mike Hancock hits his first three of the game; 2) Jeff Simons lobs to Trent Toline for a baseline jump shot; 3) Joel Weyand hits Simons for two; 4) Hancock hits another of his five three's; 5) Keith Klemme passes to Sean Brennan who scores the final basket of the game.

Wahoo Record 1987 - 1992 vs. Mt. Michael
RECORD: 7 - 0
Offensive Average: 64.71
Defensive Average: 44.71

12/22/1987 53 - 43 (home, nonconference, regular season, )
12/20/1988 63 - 50 (away, nonconference, regular season, )
12/19/1989 67 - 36 (home, nonconference, regular season, )
12/18/1990 75 - 57 (away, nonconference, regular season, )
3/8/1991 82 - 46 (neutral, nonconference, state tournament, semi final)
1/7/1992 44 - 37 (home, nonconference, regular season, )
3/2/1992 69 - 44 (neutral, nonconference, district tournament, semi final)


Wahoo vs. Mt. Michael Scorebook:
Mt. Michael guard Ryan Moody had been injured and was not listed in the program, but he was listed in the Mt. Michael scorebook which is the official entry for district play. Moody saw his first action back from injury against Wahoo and scored 9 points for the Knights. Click here to enlarge the scorebook.

Coach Anderson and Mt. Michael Coach Jim "Killer" Kane visiting before the game.
Coach Kane's teams had been very successful, but had a six game losing streak to the Warriors coming into the game.

5/26/12
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