When the Lindbergh High School boys’ basketball team won six of its last eight games of the regular season, the last thing the Flyers had on their mind was a blowout loss to Vianney in the District 5 championship game.
But the Flyers (18-10, 7-1 Suburban West Conference) found themselves on the brunt end of a 65-39 thumping by Vian-ney’s Golden Griffins.
“It was a shock,” Lindbergh head coach Jason Wolfard told the Call. “I could have swallowed this one a lot easier had we played harder.”
Lindbergh found itself down 13-11 after the first quarter, but even then the Flyers head coach knew that his players were in for a rough night.
“After the first quarter, it wasn’t much of a game, to be honest,” Wolfard said. “I guess I’m going to spend the whole off-season trying to figure out what went wrong.”
The Flyers fell behind 28-17 at halftime and failed to make up any ground in the third quarter as Vianney held a commanding 44-32 lead.
But it was a 21-7 run by Vianney in the fourth quarter that shot the Flyers back to the ground.
Lindbergh’s Robby Meeh led the Flyers with a 15-point performance despite being elbowed in the lip earlier in the game. The junior forward had a memorable evening as he refused immediate medical attention after one of his teeth broke through his lip early in the game.
“Robby gets elbowed in the lip and the tooth goes through his lip,” Wolfard said. “The trainer tells him that he’s going to need stitches and he tells her to patch him up. He’s the type of player that really has that warrior mentality.”
With Lindbergh’s season now over, the Flyers will look to replace seniors Brad Gines, Larry Quinn, Rusty Stauder and John Wuennenbergh.
Yet the Lindbergh coach believes that a strong sophomore class will step in immediately to fill the void left by this year’s senior class.
“We’re going to have 10 guys coming back next year, and there won’t be a drop-off with the sophomore class that’s coming up,” Wolfard said.
“If we get to work and do what we need to do, then next year can be pretty memorable at Lindbergh.”
