If you were growing up in Fayette, New Franklin, or Harrisburg during the 2004-05 winter season, you might have thought that skilled basketball players just grew on trees.

The three schools in three different classes, separated by 25 miles, produced four varsity teams with at least 23 wins, three district champions, and a pair of conference champs with unlucky district draws.

FAYETTE BOYS (23-7)

The Falcon boys were led by a 24-year old first-year head coach in Brandon Friebe. His introduction to the team came in the form of a grocery bag full of game tapes from the previous season.

“I sat down and started watching those game films and I immediately recognized the potential of that team,” Friebe said.

“They were just incredibly talented. Very quickly, it became evident to me that not only were they special when it came to a basketball standpoint, but there were a lot of guys on that team that were just really special human beings. I knew right away coming in, that it was going to be a special group of boys.”

The regular season had its ups and downs. After a 7-2 start, the Falcons were handed the first conference defeat of the season on their home court by Class 2 third-ranked Salisbury 70-33.

Fayette bounced back by winning the Macon Tournament as a three seed. Matt Sherman made five 3-pointers, finishing with 22 points and nine rebounds in a 71-45 win over the top-seeded Kirksville in the title game.

“When we were able to win the championship game of that tournament against a Class 4 school, I think that’s when they began to realize that they had the potential to be something special,” Friebe said. “Things started to really click for us.”

The 04-05 Falcons had nine seniors on the roster. They were experienced and they were deep.

“The pace that we played that was really great to be able to have in our toolbox because we played fast, and we played full court defense for 32 minutes a night,” Friebe said. “To have the ability to go 13 guys deep when we had to was something that I never experienced any time after that either.”

Junior Matt Sherman was first team all-conference and all-district that year. Junior Ree Wilkinson was undersized to play the post, but made first team all-conference as well.

“He had some of the best post moves that I had ever seen, but more than that he was a tenacious defender even in the post,” Friebe said. “He could jump out of the building.”

Seniors Emmett Rogers, Jamal Bush, and Timmy Fisher received all-conference honorable mention. Fisher had to work his way back from a broken leg suffered during the football season to contribute on the basketball court.

First off of the bench was Dane Fowler.

“I think Dane would have started on the majority of the teams in the state of Missouri at point guard,” Friebe said.

“He allowed us to move Matt (Sherman) off the ball. That really helped us a lot in our offense and the sets that we ran. Guys like Zach Dooley, Garth Menees, they were invaluable to us in regards to the role that they played. Andrew Palmer played some big minutes that I remember clearly in conference play.

“They were guys who just understood their role, guys who wished they would have played more minutes, but they really captured the importance of the role that they played and as we went on through the year they really embraced that role.”

After an 11-3 start, the Falcons went 3-3 over the next six games. Fayette blew a nine-point fourth quarter lead to Slater in the first round of the Wildcat Classic before bouncing back to take third. The Falcons dropped back to back games in mid-February, a 75-53 loss in the rematch at Salisbury and a 74-60 loss to Hallsville.

“We sat down and had a conversation as a team about the importance of buying into the philosophies of what we were trying to do, which was playing for one another instead of individual accolades,” Friebe said.

"I remember some of the guys making statements in that meeting that helped us change the tide. It was during that series of practices that things really shifted for us.”

Fayette won the final five games of the regular season, and beat Westran 57-40 in the first round of the district tournament. The Falcons avenged their most recent defeat with a 71-45 win over Hallsville in the semifinal round. Bush had 19 points and Wilkinson scored 15.

Fayette, the second-smallest team in Class 3, would face fifth-ranked Macon (23-2) in the district final. Friebe used that information to take the pressure off of his team.

“One of the things that we talked about before that game was that the pressure was all on Macon,” he said. Because of the fact that they were supposed to win.

“We knew that we could play with them. They had everything to lose while we had everything to gain and we began to practice like that. If we got beat in that game it wasn’t going to be because we weren’t prepared or because we didn’t work hard enough to do it.”

The Falcons led by 20 points at the half and defeated Macon 78-55 to advance.

The Centralia bleachers were packed with Falcon fans, who exploded as Fayette started the game with a run, forcing a Macon timeout.

“I think about half the town of Fayette had come up there to watch us play and they were sitting right behind us,” Friebe said.

“I got down on one knee and I looked at all those boys in the eye and I started yelling, ‘do you believe me now?’

“It was one of those moments that I’ll always remember. You could see it in their eyes, they knew that it was their moment. It was going to be an opportunity for them to create history.”

Sherman scored 20 of his 25 points in the first half. Bush and Rogers each scored 14 and Wilkinson had 13 as Fayette won its first district title in over a decade.

Fayette defeated Palmyra 53-43 in the sectional and lost to the eventual state champion Lutheran North 50-43 in the state quarterfinals. Friebe was named district Coach of the Year after leading Fayette to its best finish in 30 years.

FAYETTE GIRLS (28-2)

The Falcon girls finished the regular season with a record of 26-1, 11-0 in conference play. It was the third straight conference title for Fayette, who finished the season with a 32-game conference winning streak.

The Falcons won three tournament titles during the season, starting with the Glasgow Tournament. Jessra Johnson had 25 points, 14 rebounds, and 15 blocked shots in Fayette’s 51-44 win over Harrisburg to take the first trophy of the season. Fayette beat South Shelby 56-55 in the title game of the Macon Tournament on sophomore Lacey (Eaton) Gladden’s free throw with no time left. Amber Bush had 19 points as Fayette beat Slater 49-40 in the final game of the Wildcat Classic.

Fayette lost a third of its scoring trio when Kayla Hustedde tore an MCL and ACL in a win over Salisbury in mid-February.

Johnson outscored North Callaway by herself in the district semifinal. The Mizzou-bound junior had 32 points, 14 rebounds and 7 blocks in a 58-31 win. The Class 3 second-ranked Falcons faced no. 5 Boonville in the district final, seeking a third straight district crown. It was not Fayette’s night as nine early turnovers led to a 14-0 start for the Pirates. The Falcons never recovered and lost 57-42. Bush and Johnson scored 120 of Fayette’s 161 points in district play.

Johnson was a first team all-state selection and was first team all-conference along with Bush and Hustedde. Ashanti (Williams) Caine and Calli Lafolette received honorable mention.

HARRISBURG BOYS (27-1)

The Harrisburg boys, who would finish as state champions the following season, also had a tough district draw in 2005. The top-ranked Bulldogs were 27-0 heading into the district final. Their opponent, Salisbury, was also undefeated and ranked second in class 2.

Salisbury won the most anticipated matchup of the year and advanced to the final four before falling to the eventual champion, Marionville.

Earlier in the season, Harrisburg became the first high school team to win a game in the new Mizzou Arena when Josh Proctor’s game-winning shot lifted the Bulldogs to a 63-61 overtime win over Fayette in the MFA shootout. Kyle Fisher had 28 points and five steals for Harrisburg, while Matt Sherman had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Fayette.

Fisher was a first team all-state selection in 2005 and Brock Sublett was named second team all-state.

NEW FRANKLIN BOYS (14-15)

Despite finishing the regular season with a record of 11-14, the New Franklin boys reached the state quarterfinals for the third straight season.

The Bulldogs were the second-seed in Class 1 District 8. In the district final, New Franklin won 62-45 over fourth-seeded Bunceton, who upset the number one seed Higbee in the semifinals. New Franklin shot 62 percent from the field in the district final win led by Shawn Cook’s 21 points and 19 from Brock Hill. New Franklin defeated Brunswick 61-56 in the sectional game before falling to no. 2 North Shelby 55-27.

Ross Dobson had 18 points for New Franklin in the sectional game victory.

NEW FRANKLIN GIRLS (25-6)

After losing five of the first seven games, New Franklin did not look like a team that would be returning to the state quarterfinals in 2005. The 04-05 Lady Bulldogs had lost about 75 percent of their scoring from the previous season and did not adjust quickly early in the season.

“Everybody was trying to find their new role,” said coach Benji Dorson. “We had to have people that could score that maybe hadn’t scored that much before. We were pretty young, that team. We had no seniors that really played, our starting five were all underclassmen. A young bunch that was just trying to find their way throughout that year.”

The Lady Bulldogs were the five-seed in their home tournament, but beat Slater 40-27 in the title game to come away with the trophy. New Franklin broke the game open with a 16-4 run in the second quarter, led by 16 points from sophomore Kayla (Wies) Allinson.

“That really kind of propelled us into the second half of the season,” Dorson said. “We got a little confidence then.”

After the 2-5 start, New Franklin would win 23 games in a row.

The Lady Bulldogs were led by junior Kolina (Pihana) Baucom, an all-state selection. Allinson and junior Lindsay Pollock were first team all-conference in the CAC along with Baucom. Freshman Courtney (Wilmsmeyer) Gross worked her way into a starting role and was second team all-conference. Shani (Hyland) Twenter rounded out the starting lineup.

The Lady Bulldogs entered district play as the second seed with a record of 19-5. New Franklin beat Keytesville 43-29 in the district title and defeated Brunswick 47-26 to reach the state quarterfinals for the third straight season. Baucom scored 21 points in the sectional round victory.

In each of the previous two seasons, New Franklin had lost to the eventual state championship in the quarterfinal round.

On a Saturday night in Kirksville, the Lady Bulldogs made history with a 46-27 win over Novinger to reach the final four.

“I’m so proud of these young ladies,” Dorson said at the time. “It is hard to describe.”

Baucom had 15 points and six rebounds. Gross had 10 points and five rebounds as New Franklin got over the hump and into the semifinals.

In the semifinal, New Franklin’s excellent defense was locked in during a 32-24 win over No. 6 Leeton. The Lady Bulldogs held Leeton to 3-13 shooting in the first half. New Franklin briefly trailed by a point in the fourth quarter, but closed the game on a 10-1 run. New Franklin finished the season with a 51-31 loss to Chadwick in the state championship game.

While they weren’t necessarily predicting a state title appearance, Dorson and his assistant coach Chris McGowan always thought that this group of players would be pretty good at some point.

“They were a very smart bunch, a lot of really good students with good basketball IQ and they worked hard,” Dorson said.

“They were very balanced and I think that was part of the reason that we were hard to play against. We had three or four people averaging nine to 12 points and it was hard to stop that bunch. They were just a really competitive bunch.”