by NDSportsFan » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:42 am
Here is an email I got from someone nice enough to share his memories on the topic.
Chaffee Mustangs-closed in 1994, now part of Central Cass. I was a
freshman when Chaffee closed and there were 6 of us. It was quite a
difference being a sophomore in Central Cass when there 60+ of us!
Chaffee was quite competitive in the mid to late 80's, but for some
reason once we reached the District 2 semi-finals we fell apart. (Back
when if you lost that game meant "Have fun playing for 3rd, you're
done")
1985: 16-7, 2nd in the district to Kindred, lost to Hankinson in the
first round of Region 1
1986: 18-4, 4th in the district.
1987: 15-5, 3rd in the district. We were the #1 seed for the first
time in school history. Lost to Enderlin 47-44 in 2 OT in the semi's.
1988: 13-8, 3rd in the district. Lost in the semi's to Enderlin. We
lost 5 games during the regular season by 1 point and 1 game by 2
points. Over half of the team missed games during the regular season
due to an outbreak of chicken pox.
1989: 14-8, 2nd in the district. We were the #1seed again and lost to
(Guess Who?) Enderlin 47-46, lost to Marion 69-66 in 2 OT in the first
round of Region 1. We played in a tournament over the holidays and beat
both Harvey and Carrington (Both very recently Class A) by more than 20
points and then played Mayville-Portland (Ben Jacobsen) and lost by 6 or
so I think.
You have to take into consideration that during this period, Chaffee
never had more than 25 students in 9-12.
Sheldon Shadows-high school closed in 1996, elementary school closed a
few years ago.
Sheldon-Chaffee had a co-op for boy's basketball 92-94.
1992: 16-9, 2nd in the district; 4th in the region.
My most memorable moment in sports history: In the District 2
semi-finals we played Lamoure who had only lost once and were rated
highly in the state poll. They were beating us by about 15 or so in the
3rd quarter and then junior Rob Dooley stole the ball at half-court and
went up for the dunk and broke the backboard. It took over 70 minutes
to replace the backboard and clean up the floor. It was kind of fun
during the delay doing the wave in the Fargo Civic Center. At the start
of the 4th quarter Lamoure was ahead 52-38. With 4 minutes to go
Lamoure was ahead 60-49. With about 30 seconds to go Lamoure was ahead
60-59, but we forced a turn over when they tried to hold the ball. Our
point guard junior Jason Schatzke held the ball for the last shot (we
were out of time outs) and was fouled while shooting with 3 seconds
left. He made them both and we won 61-60.
1993: 23-2, 1st in the district, 3rd in the region. We lost to Oakes
57-55 in the semi's but beat Lisbon (who were the big bad guys) 54-51
for 3rd.
Though not recognized state wide, I think this team would have given
M-P-C-G from 95-97 a run for their money. The regular season loss
(Hope-Page by 6) was due to 3 starters out for injuries/illness and the
loss to Oakes was ??? shock from playing from behind/over confidence? I
personally think this is one of the better teams in Class B history.
1994: 17-6, 2nd in the district. Lost in the first round of the region
to Richland. The district championship was against Central Cass that
year and they one 67-65. Their point guard made a half court shot at
the end of the 3rd quarter, but the clock didn't start running with 5
seconds to go. Many Sheldon-Chaffee fans feel this robbed them of the
game because it tied it up and really gave Central Cass momentum. The
game seemed bigger than it was because Central Cass was highly ranked in
state, Chaffee was closing and consolidating with them at the end of the
year, and every other team in the district and region was their to
support us.
information for other schools that closed too.
Leonard Panthers-closed in 1994
Wheatland Wildcats and Amenia ???-closed in the late 60's and now are
part of Central Cass
Ayr Rifles-closed in the late 60's. One of the most dominate teams in
Class C girls basketball history.
Page Panthers-school still open but now the F-S-H-P Spartans. Everybody
should know about Brian Buhr.
Eire, Arthur, Hunter, Aurgusville, and Gardner-All were schools that
each had their own team until the 70's, all now part of Northern Cass.
Colfax, Walcott, and Abercrombie-All were schools that each had their
own team until the late 60's, all now part of Richland.
Cardinal Meunch Seminary Cardinals-The last time they had a team was
1990.
Mapleton Falcons-still has elementary school. In the 70's the high
school kids started going to West Fargo or Central Cass.
Davenport ???-had teams in the 60's but for the life of me can't find
out what their mascot was. If you happen to know, I am very
intersested!!
Buffalo Bison, Tower City Clams, Fingal Broncos, and Oriska Flickers-now
Maple Valley. Buffalo and Tower City joined in the mid 70's. Buffalo
always had good sports teams, Tower City not so much. Fingal Joined
them in the late 70's. I know they had decent teams in the mid to late
70's with a few district championships and runners up. Oriska joined in
the 90's.
Kathryn Bobcats-had there own varsity team until at least 1989. They
used Fingal's gym for varsity games. Kathryn's gym was very, very
small.
Pillsbury ???-I know they had teams in the 60's because my dad told me
they always got made fun of-the DOUGHBOYS.
Nome ???-had teams up until the mid 60's.
So here you have around 20 less teams playing now versus 30 or so years
ago, just between Valley City and Fargo north and south for about 30
miles or so.
Not far away from these schools listed are: BCN (Sanborn, Rogers,
Dazey, Wimbledon, Courtenay-all had teams) Hannaford (with Griggs
County now) and Midkota (Glenfield, Sutton, McHenry, Binford, Grace
City-each had individual teams) I am sure others know more info about
these ones.
Also added: Nome-Wildcats; Amenia-Trojans; and Pillsbury-Knights.