The North Callaway boys haven’t been on a stage as big as Friday’s game at South Callaway in Mokane.

North Callaway vs Hermann District Title Photo Gallery

The Thunderbirds hadn’t won a district title since 1999 but held off the Class 3 District 7 No. 1 seed Hermann 55-50, which was one game after knocking off the No. 2 seed Montgomery County (19-8) 43-41 on Wednesday. Recently enshrined all-time leading scorer Matthew Weber led North Callaway with 20 points, scoring 16 in the second half, but several Thunderbirds made plays to prevent the Bearcats from taking any lead except 23-22 right before halftime.

Head coach Matt Miller said Friday’s victory is the best moment in his coaching career — best in life other than his wedding and his childrens’ births — as this season is his 20th season in varsity basketball as a coach and player but only the second time he’s been on the winning side in a district title game. However, the moment means much more to his players, who have dealt with various injuries and sickness in the season that has led to North Callaway (16-12) playing at most five games with a full roster.

“We’ve got everybody here now,” Miller said. “That makes a difference because we’ve been kind of treading water and treading water — get a couple wins here, a couple losses here, just back-and-forth really and up-and-down season. I told the boys for a week ‘We get everybody here and we get everybody healthy, we get into district time and anything can happen.’ We got so much varsity experience and just as much talent and ability as everybody else.”

The Thunderbirds’ depth was proven after the game as junior Isiah Craighead, who led the team with nine rebounds, was called to midcourt for the all-district team announcements. Then junior Sam Pezold, who converted on a layup through contact to help preserve a 53-50 lead in the fourth quarter, and finally Weber, who finished with four steals. Braydn O’Neal and Trenton Jones were unofficial honorable mentions in Miller’s eyes as O’Neal followed Weber in scoring 11 points and Jones added eight points and three blocks.

Weber, O’Neal and Jones are three of a total of seven North Callaway seniors in what Miller has described as the most experienced team he has coached. With Hermann running out a starting five of all seniors and the Bearcats knocking shots late to stay within striking distance, the nerves started to pile up as the seconds ticked away. 

The Thunderbirds never faltered even when Hermann turned a 42-34 deficit, following a Weber transition 3-pointer, into a 42-40 game about halfway through the fourth quarter. Miller admits while his exterior showed him being calm, he was anxious on the inside.

“A lot of that is experience,” Miller said. “We’ve got two senior guards where this is their third year playing varsity basketball, you got a post player where it’s his third year playing varsity basketball, and you’ve got a wing guard junior where it’s his third year of playing varsity basketball.

"They’ve seen about every situation — every defense they can throw at you — and they just did a great job of keeping their composure and handling their nerves. I don’t know about them, but I was like a duck in water, trying to show your composure on the outside but your mind is racing a mile a minute in those situations.”

Weber hadn’t affected the game much from a scoring standpoint in the first half but started rolling after hitting his first 3-pointer in the third quarter. 

“I kept letting little things get me frustrated, but coach started talking to me and saying the little things don’t matter, they’re just going to hold us back,” Weber said. “I tried to keep it cool, and then in the second half, I just let the offense go through and shots kept coming my way.”

He added that the win wouldn’t have been possible without O’Neal scoring six points in the first half and making plays throughout the game. Weber said he and his fellow seniors are happy they don’t have to start spring sports just yet.

“I feel like we are the best team here, but we still have a little ways to go,” Weber said. “We just want to keep going as long as it takes us.”

North Callaway’s second leading scorer Pezold has had himself quite a week as he said he missed school on Monday and Tuesday and played minimal minutes against Montgomery. He admitted not being at 100 percent yet even though he felt fine enough to start as he threw up on the court at one point. That moment was eclipsed after Pezold threw up a shot after letting loose of the ball momentarily to score through contact and earn a moment with the North Callaway student section 10 feet away.

“That was huge but I had to get it done and got it done,” Pezold said. 

Craighead is the team’s third leading scorer this season but scoring wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. He had the difficult task of guarding Parker Anderson, Hermann’s leading scorer that came in above 20 points per game. Anderson didn’t score his first field goal until the closing minutes of the second quarter on a fastbreak layup and was held to 12 points.

“Probably the furthest I got from them was two inches,” Craighead said. “I could tell that I started getting in their head because I was always up in there.”

A similar case to Anderson’s down night is Montgomery’s Clayton Parker, who is the Wildcats’ post player able to score from anywhere and also averages 20 points per game to lead their team. The Thunderbirds held him to 11 points — five in the first half — on Wednesday. 

Miller said it was a similar strategy to dealing with Anderson, which made a difference as the Bearcats could only take shots from the perimeter most of the game. Conner Coffey picked up the slack by leading Hermann with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

“We put Isiah on their best player because, man, (Anderson) is a stud,” Miller said. “He did a great job on him and then Coffey gets going a little bit. We came out of halftime, and we switched up to another junk defense to where we covered their guards a little bit better. Our kids bought into the game plan and executed it at a high level.”

The Thunderbirds are now one of 16 teams left in Class 3 as it focuses on its second straight 20-win team in Cole Camp (21-7), who defeated Russellville 73-41 on Friday for the District 8 championship. North Callaway plays again at 7:45 p.m. Monday at Capital City High School in Jefferson City for the sectional round. 

This is uncharted territory now for the Thunderbirds, with all of its players getting their first taste of sectional action while facing a team they haven’t faced, but Miller is confident they will be ready once they do the normal routine of watching film and devising a game plan. Today, he wants them to enjoy the victory and rest as the win means much to the community.

“It means a lot to those boys, and it means a lot to our community, our school, and our athletic program, in general,” Miller said. “It’s been a long time, and it’s pretty gratifying right now.”