“It doesn’t justify anything. Some people still doubt us. Some people still don’t know how good we are. This game is a stepping stone to what we’re trying to do, win a state championship at the end of the year.”
That’s been Wayne’s mindset since last season ended with a last-second regional loss to Trotwood-Madison. It’s been an eventful journey for the Warriors and it’s only midseason.
At least half of Wayne’s roster played 15 games of football, ending with a Division I state title loss in early December. That delayed the Warriors’ preseason. A brawl at Springfield two weeks ago was costly. Nine Warriors served two-game suspensions. Findlay Prep was their first game back.
And then this instant classic. If ever an outcome offered a glimpse of greatness, this was it.
“We’re going to have ups and downs, but we know how to handle adversity,” said junior Trey Landers after leading the Warriors with 20 points and three awesome and crowd-buzzing slam dunks. “We overcame it as a team and stayed together.”
Close throughout, Wayne blew several chances to win in the final minutes of regulation by repeatedly missing free throws. Allonzo Trier, a 6-foot-5 Findlay guard, snared the final miss, beat the Warriors down the court and, incredibly, missed a layup at the buzzer. He could easily have dunked.
“We were destined to win this game with him missing a wide-open layup,” said D’Mitrik Trice, who trailed Trier down the court.
With Wagner and Xeyrius Williams dominating the boards, Wayne went on an OT free-throw binge to earn its most impressive win in program history.
Findlay Prep (17-1) is a barn-storming national power that is loaded with NCAA D-I prospects and signees. They had played in a Springfield, Mass., invitational on Saturday.
“We don’t make excuses,” said first-year coach Andy Johnson, previously a Findlay assistant. “They deserved to win the game. They outplayed us and out-toughed us.”
Wayne (10-2) lost twice to out-of-state teams at a Florida holiday tournament. There is no break. On Friday, Wayne hosts Centerville (12-1). On Saturday, the Warriors will play Gahanna Lincoln (13-0) at Ohio Dominican University. Gahanna is No. 1 in the state in Division I.
We now know what Wayne is capable of doing. All the hype is justified. Following up on that will be its repeated test.
“We’re still out to prove something,” Wayne coach Travis Trice said. “We didn’t prove something major. We proved we could compete and play with the best teams and players in the country. We knew we could compete. This was about winning a game. Now we have to take that to the next game.”
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