Northeast Nebraska Boys Basketball Program Brings Back First-Ever State Championship Trophy

Northeast Nebraska Boys Basketball Program Brings Back First-Ever State Championship Trophy
Courtesy of the NSAA.

LAUREL – Three games in three days and the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge boys basketball team outscored their opponents 216-127. It wasn’t all that easy for the Bears and their quest to reach the postseason tournament.

Last season ended in heartbreak with back-to-back losses to the eventual third-place Class C2 team of Ponca during both the subdistrict (48-50) and district (45-55) rounds. This season, LCC was moved to Class D1 and jumped out the gate with seven straight wins but ran into trouble falling in the semifinal round of the Wayne Holiday Tournament to Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout and Class C1 back-to-back state champions of Auburn, 63-50. LCC also lost to Wayne High 59-50 in the consolation round. The Auburn Bulldogs have won 36 straight and Wayne High also qualified for the C1 state tourney.

Coach Todd Erwin completed his sixth year at the helm of LCC and he talked about the strong start.

“It was what we expected, obviously what we wanted,” said Erwin. “And it’s what we expected with the group we had and the way last year went.”

In the month of January, the Bears were only stumped twice as Wayne High held LCC to a season-low 35 points in Wayne and Osmond won on their home court 55-46. Laurel-Concord-Coleridge went onto win the Lewis & Clark Conference Tournament over Ponca 66-56 but lost shortly after on a buzzer-beater shot at Wisner-Pilger, 57-55.

LCC again turned things around and their closest margin of victory was 16 in the final six postseason games with their averaging being 31.3.

Coach Erwin added each year the team made progress.

“Every year our team, our school, our coaches we got better,” Erwin added. “Then every year we did kind of a ‘we haven’t don’t that in a long time’. Last year we made it to the title game and lost to Osmond and year before (2018) we were only one win away from getting into the conference championship game.”

Senior Noah Schutte eclipsed the 2,000 point and 1,000 rebound mark in his career while fellow senior Ty Erwin surpassed 1,000 points in his career. Both were named to the Elite 8 award from the Norfolk Daily News along with numerous state awards. The third senior of the program was Landon Boysen

Laurel-Concord-Coleridge made it to their first-ever state tournament as LCC and made quick work with a quarterfinal win over #5 Paxton (75-47). The Bears then finished strong against #1 North Platte St. Patrick’s with a 65-49 victory and then set a first in NSAA state tourney history since the running clock began in Nebraska (2013-14), defeating #6 Southern Valley 76-31 in the Class D1 finals.

The boys state basketball tournament was allowed to be played but with only members of the media, game officials and immediate family members. Coach Erwin opened the state tourney with his 100th coaching victory and would like to thank the NSAA for allowing them the chance to play.

“At least we got to play it; there’s a lot of states that didn’t get that opportunity,” Erwin mentioned. “We’re fortunate up here at the Lewis & Clark where there’s a lot of good game and we get good turnouts for every game.”

Laurel qualified for state five times, last in 1972 and their best finish was runner-up in Class B in 1970. Laurel-Concord recently made it to state in 2001 where they were crowned champions in Class C2 and then again in C2 in 1995. They also made it to state in 1998. Coleridge made it to state 15 times, last in 1998 with their best finish being runner-up in Class D in 1983. Concord made it to state one year in 1955.

Again, it was LCC’s first-ever state tourney appearance since the three towns came together in the 2010-11 season as Laurel-Concord-Coleridge.

LCC ended the season 26-5 winning their final eight games.

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