Having won 144 out of the last 145 games, when Wahoo won, it wasn’t big news.  But when Wahoo was defeated in the first round of the Prep Classic, the Omaha World Herald proclaimed it in a large bold headline, “New Yorkers Hand Wahoo Rare Setback.”  The tournament was an opportunity to see how Wahoo would actually compete against the larger schools.  The World Herald had encouraged the debate over the years as Wahoo had been included in the paper’s “All Class” rankings, as high as #3.  Since the Warriors never played any Class A team, it was only natural that the larger schools would take exception to those rankings.  The Class A fans were nodding smugly when Wahoo dropped its first game 64 – 53 to Monsignor McClancy Memorial High School from East Elmhurst New York.

Wahoo was able to take an early lead when Mike Hancock connected on a long range three to make the score 5 – 2.  But Wahoo never led again.  The Warriors stayed close, but when Greg Hain collected his third foul towards the end of the first half the New Yorkers ran off nine straight points to take a 32 – 21 half time lead.  But the Warriors battled back in the third period putting together a twelve point run to pull within one at 40 – 39.  But again McClancy answered, taking a 46 – 41 lead into the final period.  Another 10 – 0 New York run in the fourth period put the New York school in the win column 64 – 53.  Coach Anderson believed there were three reasons for the Wahoo loss.  First of all, McClancy was a quality team.  That would be confirmed as the New Yorkers would ultimately finish fourth in the tournament and would impress observers as one of the better teams in the field of sixteen.  Secondly, Coach Anderson recognized that it took his Warriors some time to adjust to the length and speed the McClancy team represented – “It’s a difference in competition, they’re a step quicker.”  Coach Anderson also saw that the bigger school had an advantage when they went to their bench:  “We have to keep working on our depth.  We don’t have the depth a lot of a lot of these teams.”

Coach Anderson had always maintained that his teams would be competitive playing the bigger schools and had always acknowledged that they might lose a few.  In the initial test, the Warriors had been competitive, but they had lost.  If the tournament was going to be a validation of Wahoo’s inclusion in discussions of the best teams in the state, they would have to be more than competitive.  Coach Anderson:  “Nobody is going to feel sorry for Wahoo.  We have to come back and play well.”

Validation?