Free State High is in seventh heaven.
Coming off thrilling victories in their Class 6A sub-state championships on Saturday, both the Firebird boys and girls basketball teams are seeded seventh heading into their respective state tournaments this week at Emporia's White Auditorium.
The Free State boys (11-11) which toppled Lawrence High, 53-51, in their sub-state championship will face No. 2-seeded Wichita Southeast (19-3) in a state quarterfinal game at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Southeast cruised to state with a 61-35 victory over Manhattan in the sub-state semifinals and a 67-48 victory over Wichita North in the final.
"From the scouting reports I've heard and the film on them, I think we're OK," FSHS boys coach Jack Schreiner said. "I think we can play with these guys. It's not like they're super human. I think we have a legitimate chance."
Free State's girls qualified with a 49-45 victory at Olathe East on Saturday. The Firebirds (16-6) will face second-seeded Overland Park Aquinas (21-1) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. FSHS girls coach Craig Hershiser coached the Saints before making the move to Free State.
Aquinas advanced to state with convincing victories over Lawrence High (69-28) and Olathe South (73-38) at LHS.
"They're playing very well," Hershiser said of his former squad. "They had a tremendous season and they're 21-1 for a reason. They've got some talented kids."
The Free State coach had no complaints about being a No. 7 seed despite a fairly impressive record.
"There were a lot of very good records out there," Hershiser said. "There were also some teams with good records that didn't get in. Manhattan was 18-2 and they didn't get out of their sub-state. It's just that way every year. There are a lot of teams in there with good records, and I consider us a good team with a good record.
"It should make for a really exciting tournament."
It would be hard to top the boys' sub-state at Lawrence High, which saw the Firebirds win back-to-back two-point games with their opponents both having shots rim out at the buzzer. After knocking off the Lions on Saturday night, Schreiner celebrated like a kid who had just received a pony for his birthday, jumping up and down and hugging anyone he could get his hands on.
"I didn't do a whole lot of sleeping (Saturday night)," Schreiner said. "I just couldn't get to sleep. I watched the replay on TV this morning and I just can't say enough about Stephen Vinson (24 points). He almost beat us by himself."
Schreiner was in an entirely different mood just eight days earlier, though, when the Free State coach sat dejectedly in his office after his team lost to Shawnee Mission East and he realized the Firebirds would face top-seeded and defending state champion Leavenworth.
"I was pretty down after our loss to Shawnee Mission East," Schreiner said, "because I thought we had pretty much buried ourselves. I thought we put ourselves in a position that was going to be tough to get out of. But, my goodness, the kids just responded so well. I'm so proud of them."
Against LHS, Free State was led by senior forward Pat Krivoshia's 15 points, including 7-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line. Fellow frontcourter, sophomore center Keith Wooden, also came up huge at the charity stripe, connecting twice with five seconds remaining to break a 51-51 tie.
But the key to the Firebirds' recent run has been the play of its guards. Seniors Greg Dillon (nine points) and Morgan Minnis (seven) and sophomore Neil Dougherty (eight) combined for 24 points against the Lions and were five of 12 from three-point range.
"In order for us to be successful, our guards have to step up and play well," Schreiner said. "We've been able to do that these last two games. If we can continue that, I think we're a team somebody will have to look out for. No one's going to really take us too seriously and I think that's really an advantage for us."
Playing at O-East proved to be an advantage for the Free State girls. With Saturday's victory, the Firebirds finished 5-1 for the season at O-East, including two wins against the host Hawks and coach Jeff Hulse.
"Jeff's team played with so much courage and they played so hard," Hershiser said. "We knew that it would be like this and we'd have to go for 32 minutes because they're a good team and they're extremely well coached. To come in here on this floor and get this game, that makes it just a little bit sweeter."
Perhaps sweetest, though, is sending both the girls and boys squads to state in just the fourth year of the school's existence.
"That's great," Krivoshia said. "That shows we've got some good basketball here in Lawrence. We had a bunch of teams in the sub-state finals. The guys and girls both came through. The girls had a great season. I'm glad we'll both be down there, supporting each other in state."
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