Not this time: Woodland breaks 14-year losing streak to Flanagan-Cornell, wins 1A regional opener

RURAL STREATOR – Three months ago in the de facto championship game of the Woodland Pool of the Route 17 Classic, Woodland led co-op rival Flanagan-Cornell all night long just to see the Falcons drain a near-half-court 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime and eventually beat a stunned group of Warriors.

Carrying an eight-point advantage into the fourth quarter in front of another packed house at the Warrior Dome on Monday in the quarterfinals of the Class 1A LeRoy Regional, Woodland made certain it would not happen again.

The Warriors shot a blazing 9 of 12 from the field over the final eight minutes and did not commit a a single fourth-quarter turnover, pulling away for a 64-40 victory.

“It feels great,” said Warriors senior Nick Plesko, who scored in every quarter on his way to a game-best 24 points. “We put so much work and time into this game.

“All season we’ve been wanting this rematch. We didn’t think we were going to get it, but thankfully when we got matched up with them again when it mattered most, we came out, we did our jobs, and we won.”

The win avenged for No. 6 seed Woodland (21-11) an overtime loss to its rivals the day before Thanksgiving. It also ended the season of seventh-seeded Flanagan-Cornell (15-17), propelled the Warriors into Wednesday’s 6 p.m. regional semifinal against host LeRoy and ended a 14-year-old run of losses to the Falcons dating back to a regional game more than 14 years ago, way back on Feb. 21, 2011.

Current Woodland coach Connor Kaminke was a senior on that Woodland team.

“There’s no better first-round victory for us,” he said. “We couldn’t have thought it up or dreamt it up any better, so I’m just happy for these kids, and I’m happy for Woodland School. It’s a great day to be a Warrior. We haven’t [beaten Flanagan] since I played.

“Obviously, from my hairline, you can tell that was a long time ago.”

In addition to Plesko’s 24-point, seven-rebound performance, fellow Woodland senior Connor Dodge had 11 points and six assists, Nolan Price nine points and five rebounds and Jaron Follmer and Quentin Porter six points.

Woodland never trailed Monday, though a lead that reached double digits multiple times kept getting challenged and cut into by the feisty Falcons.

Flanagan-Cornell sliced a 24-20 halftime deficit to 27-26 midway through the third quarter, but couldn’t stop Woodland from closing the quarter on a 7-0 spurt. In the fourth, Woodland extended it to a 16-0 run that put the Warriors ahead 43-26 after a Follmer bucket off a nice-look Dodge assist 1 minute, 45 seconds into the fourth.

Led by the ball-handling and passing of Dodge, 4-for-4 free-throw shooting by Follmer and an 11-point fourth quarter from Plesko, the Warriors just kept adding on.

This time, there would be no buzzer-beating Falcons miracle.

“Hats off to Woodland; outplayed us in every phase of the game,” Falcons coach Brian Yoder said. “We love our seniors and wish all of them the best of luck in life.”

Seth Jones scored a team-high 13 points for Flanagan-Cornell, with fellow senior Connor Reed and junior 1,000-point scorer Logan Ruddy adding 11 apiece. Ruddy also had nine rebounds and sophomore Reece Pelnarsh three assists for a Falcons team that narrowly outrebounded Woodland 33-31, but was outshot from the field 47.7% (21 of 44) to Flanagan-Cornell’s chilly 27.8% (15 of 54).

Woodland played regional top seed LeRoy at LeRoy back on Feb. 11, losing a close contest 51-42.

“‘Enjoy tonight until you wake up tomorrow,’ ” Kaminke said he told his Warriors postgame. “Tomorrow and Wednesday are LeRoy. Don’t just be satisfied, even with a win like this.”