ndlionsfan wrote:My guess is New Town vs Robinson in 76 or Larimore vs Fullerton in 75. Not sure if these teams played each other those years, just going by state entrants and looking at what may be the largest/smallest teams in the field those years.
Correct. Fullerton (enrollment 28) lost to Larimore (enrollment 290) 66-57 in the first round of the 1975 state tournament.
Larimore was in its second season back in Class B after spending 10 seasons as a Class A school. Larimore came into the state tournament that year with just a 20-7 record but played a brutal schedule in those days- the Polar Bears would play 4-5 Class A schools each year in addition to a Red River Valley Conference schedule that included May-Port, Hillsboro, etc. In fact, Finley and Hillsboro had both beaten Larimore twice that season. Larimore ended up reaching the championship game and lost to Parshall.
Fullerton had pulled off a huge upset in the Region One championship game, beating heaving favored LaMoure 43-34 after losing handily to the Loboes in the regular season and district championship. That same LaMoure team rolled through the 1976 state tournament.
Fullerton was a lot like the famous 1977 Epping team in that they were carried by two sets of brothers. The Blue Devils lost both games at state and finished 18-8. The school lasted just two more years, combining with Monango to form Dickey Central in the fall of 1977.
There are a few other interesting pieces of trivia that came from the 1975 tournament:
Fullerton had made the Class C state tournament in '58 and '61 so there had been some basketball success for such a small town. However, I believe Fullerton is the only school to have played in the State B without ever winning a Class B district tournament.
Larimore coach Bill Fruhwirth had coached Parshall to the 1971 state tournament before leaving for Larimore. I believe this the only time in State B history where a coach lost to his former school in the state title game. Del Kessler (Mayville-Portland) beat his former school (Linton) in the 1987 state championship game.
The 1975 state championship game was also one of the few at the Bismarck Civic Center not to be played before a capacity crowd because a blizzard hit Bismarck that afternoon and lasted into Monday morning. Several of the teams were stuck in Bismarck until around noon on Monday. The blizzard created a bit of a crisis since travelers forced off I-94 were unable to find a place to stay with all of the hotel rooms taken. Many local Bismarck residents opened up their homes to stranded fans.
Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:56 pm