Shock.
It's the state Austin Welchert was in after his eighth-seeded Fort Calhoun Pioneers made the most of their first state trip in 99 years Tuesday morning. They upset No. 1 Wahoo in a 54-52 thriller during the first round of the Class C1 basketball tournament in Lincoln.
Welchert, a junior, made the game-winning 3-pointer with 7 seconds remaining at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, propelling his 21-5 FCHS squad into Thursday's semifinals against the three-time state champion Auburn Bulldogs.
The Pioneers, the band, the students and the Calhoun faithful erupted as the final buzzer sounded.
“After the game was over, I just saw my grandma out there on the court,” Welchert said.
The sight of a jubilant Connie, the team's unofficial-official courtside photographer, nearly made him cry.
“They're incredible kids. They're resilient kids,” coach TJ O'Connor said of his Pioneers. “They won that game.”
Pioneers take out No. 1
Despite its lack of state experience, Fort Calhoun played with poise against one of the most storied basketball programs in all of Nebraska. The Pioneers hadn't been to the state tournament since 1923, while Wahoo — an 11-time state champion — was making its 40th appearance.
It never seemed to matter.
“Honestly, I thought that we kind of got a lot of weight off of our shoulders in the district final,” O'Connor said, noting his team's win over Gordon-Rushville eight days earlier.
“I felt like today our guys could just come play ball. That was our message all week,” he continued. “Everybody's asking about all the hoopla and all that, and I'm just like, 'Man, just enjoy it. It's high school. You're supposed to enjoy these moments.'”
As a result, sophomore Grayson Bouwman — who scored a game-high 20 points — tallied the first round's first point on a foul shot.
“Before the start of the game, we're preaching, 'It's still 10-foot hoops,'” senior Zane Schwarz said. “'It's still a 90-foot court.'”
Fort Calhoun proved it's familiarity, too, knocking down three 3-pointers and taking a 15-11 lead into the second period. Schwarz's make evened the score at 11 before Bouwman sunk his second 3 of the quarter before the buzzer.
“We played our game,” Schwarz said. “That's who we are. We're tough.”
The Pioneers pushed their lead to five points during the second, but fell behind 23-22 at halftime when Wahoo's Owen Hancock hit a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left.
FCHS and the Warriors traded leads after halftime as well. Glenn Hunter's three free throws put the Pioneers ahead 38-37, but the top seed, again, led by one going into the final quarter.
The tight ballgame continued.
“If it's a physical game, that's in our favor,” senior Carsen Schwarz said.
Welchert started the fourth period with a corner 3-pointer, pushing his team ahead 41-39, momentarily. The Warriors battled back with De'Andre Nelson's own long-range make giving his team a three-point advantage.
Bouwman and Zane Schwarz scored back-to-back baskets, though, continuing the back-and-forth nature of the period. The Pioneers' lead reached five, 49-44, on Owen Newbold's free throw with 2:04 to go, but it wasn't enough to hold off No. 1 Wahoo.
Coach Kevin Scheef's team battled back, taking a 52-51 lead on another Hancock 3-pointer with less than a minute left.
FCHS' response in the final seconds was Bouwman driving to the basket. The sophomore guard's attempts missed, but the Pioneers wound up with the ball when Welchert helped tip it back out of a scrum to a teammate.
With the offensive rebound secure, the junior relocated to beyond the 3-point arc. Zane Schwarz passed the ball from the left side of the court to the middle where Newbold swung it out to the right where Welchert stood, waiting.
“It was just great ball movement,” the 3-pointer shooter said. “Swung it all the way around and I was just the last guy. Put the shot up.”
It was the most important jumper he's ever taken.
“I couldn't even see the fans,” Welchert said. “I was just focused on the rim and it was just, like, blackness around it.”
The game-winner found the bottom of the net with just seconds left in the Pioneers' first state game in nearly a century.
“I just remember it going in and I looked at all my teammates running at me,” Welchert said. “I was just in shock. It was amazing.”
Wahoo took a timeout with 7 seconds left to set up the final play, but it lost the ball before getting up an attempt to tie or win the game.
Bouwman scored 20 points, while Zane Schwarz added 14 and Welchert notched 11. Hancock led the Warriors with 17 points in defeat.
“This is 10 times better than the district final,” Carsen Schwarz said outside his team's Devaney Center locker room. “Now we're going to a semifinal.”
Pioneers make history
With every win since the subdistrict tournament, the Fort Calhoun basketball team is contributing to a school record. No other Pioneers team has amassed more wins in a season than this one.
“It's a great day to be an eight-seed,” Zane Schwarz said after FCHS' 21st victory.
Online videos of Welchert's game-winning 3 amassed more than 10,000 views in hours. Those videos only came after state media — print, radio and TV — jumped at their chance to cover the first state-bound FCHS boys team in their lifetimes during the week leading up to the state tourney.
But the Pioneers shouldered all of the pressure and attention, and delivered. They upset Wahoo and moved onto the second round against Auburn.
“The heart our team has. Our physicality in the weight room and everything,” Carsen Schwarz said. “It all pays off in March.”
