The third-seeded New Franklin boys eased past Fayette on Thursday for a chance to play for their third straight title of their own tournament. The Bulldogs took down the seventh-seeded Falcons 61-35.

It was the third meeting between the two teams so far this season. Fayette advanced to the championship bracket after second-seeded Prairie Home backed out of the tournament due to winter weather concerns. Fayette is in a rebuilding phase in the first year under coach Brandon Friebe, who previously coached the Falcons in the early 2000s.

“Despite our start and our record, I’m still really proud of our guys, how hard they are continuing to work, and how they have maintained a really positive attitude,” Friebe said. “We have to remember we have played New Franklin and Westran a combined five times in our first six games. That’s a tall task for any team, especially one trying to build a new culture and a new foundation. Right now, the most important thing is to continue focusing on our culture, our non-negotiables, and just chase the ‘1% better’ every night we have the opportunity to play.”

After a close first quarter, Westran outscored Fayette 18-9 in the second period to take a commanding 35-20 lead at the half. The Bulldogs continued to pull away in the second from the feisty Falcons, whose full-court pressure produced several turnovers and points throughout the game.

“Our guys are settling into their roles, and we’re seeing some great improvement as we continue through our season,” said New Franklin coach Jim Schlotzhauer. “I thought our guys did some really good things tonight. We saw some improvements on both ends of the floor from different guys.”

New Franklin junior Caden Schlotzhauer scored a game-high 24 points for the Bulldogs, including 14 in the first quarter.

Junior Jaron Cross led the Falcons with seven points.

“We’re excited to advance to the championship game and play Westran for the third year in a row. It should be a good one,” Coach Schlotzhauer added.

Saturday’s title game will be the second matchup between New Franklin and Westran this season. The Hornets won the first game by a four-point decision in the first round of the Glasgow Tournament in December.

New Franklin, now 8-3 overall, tips off against the top-seeded Hornets at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the new gym.

Fayette will play fourth-seeded Sturgeon for third place. The game time was moved to noon in the old gym.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to play for a third-place trophy against a good Sturgeon ball club,” Coach Friebe said. “They are athletic and love to spread things out offensively. They have their big kid back this year and do some really good things. So, we will spend our snow day watching film, putting a game plan together, and looking forward to this opportunity. No matter who we play, it starts with cleaning up our self-inflicted mistakes and continuing to find that continuity, rhythm, and flow in our offense.”

The Falcons return to the regular season on Monday against Pilot Grove in only their second home game of the season. Fayette will then travel to Harrisburg on Friday to face Belle in the Ramey Invitational.