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\nMACON, March 10, 2001 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Coach Seth Vining was smiling. And laughing. And jumping up and down.<\/p>\n
\nMACON, March 10, 2001 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Coach Seth Vining was smiling. And laughing. And jumping up and down.<\/p>\n
His players were, too. Chanting and screaming, the team became one big mass of celebration in the Macon Coliseum locker room Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The East Hall Vikings had just defeated Calhoun, 78-67, for the first boys basketball state title in school history. And they released 44 years worth of jubilation.<\/p>\n
Vining coached the East Hall girls to back-to-back titles in 1979 and 1980. But there was something especially special about this win, he said.<\/p>\n
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“Those felt good,” Vining said of his previous championships. “But this has been a long struggle. Particularly because for the last six or seven years, we’ve been so close.”<\/p>\n
Vining’s Vikings advanced to the final four in five of the past seven seasons. This was their second consecutive championship game appearance. Last year, they lost to Mitchell-Baker, 105-76.<\/p>\n
For the 15 hours leading up to Friday’s game time, East Hall acted like a team that had been there before.<\/p>\n
Calm and carefree. Laid back and loose. They carried on as if they were on a class field trip \u00e2\u20ac\u201d or better yet, a family vacation.<\/p>\n
They surely didn’t appear to be a group of young men sitting on history’s doorstep.<\/p>\n
“It’s been that way all year long,” said Ronnie Vandiver, assistant coach for the team that finished its season 30-2. “But when the horn goes off, they don’t believe they can be beat.”<\/p>\n
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9:35 p.m. Thursday: The team gathers in Vining’s room at the La Quinta hotel in Macon. They had just arrived \u00e2\u20ac\u201d on a school bus \u00e2\u20ac\u201d from Gainesville, where they enjoyed a pre-trip meal at the Rabbittown Cafe.<\/p>\n
Sophomore guard Matt Causey expresses disgust that the Georgia-LSU game isn’t being shown on the hotel televisions.<\/p>\n
Vining initiated an 11:30 p.m. curfew for his team.<\/p>\n
“What time do we have to get up tomorrow?” senior Kevin Anderson asks.<\/p>\n
“7:30,” Vining replies.<\/p>\n
“I thought you said 8.”<\/p>\n
“Some of you need to be told 7:30 to get up at 8.”<\/p>\n
10:05 p.m. Thursday: Coach Joe Dix watches the Providence-Syracuse game \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the only basketball on TV \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in his room.<\/p>\n
Dix, a 29-year-old who played college ball at North Georgia College & State University, lost his mother to cancer last month and the entire Vikings team made the trip to Tuskegee, Ala., for the funeral. It was the day after East Hall won its 22nd region championship.<\/p>\n
“I want to win this in memory of her,” Dix says. “She’s the one that encouraged me to coach.”<\/p>\n
10:10 p.m. Thursday: Senior Mark Causey, East Hall’s leading scorer, is the first player between the sheets. His plans?<\/p>\n
“Say my prayers, read my Bible and go to bed,” Causey says.<\/p>\n
His mind, not surprisingly, is on Friday’s battle.<\/p>\n
“I hope our team plays our game,” he says. “I know everybody’s not going to get nervous because we’ve played big games before. Hopefully we go out there and have fun.”<\/p>\n
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10:15-11:30 p.m. Thursday: The Vikings hallway is abuzz with action.<\/p>\n
Vining’s 19-year-old daughter Marjorie gives her father a back rub, which she does the night before every big game.<\/p>\n
Senior Tavarvess Ware plays Playstation with student manager Jonathan Hardy, who is referred to as “Tiny.” He stands 6-foot-3 and weighs well over 300 pounds.<\/p>\n
Junior Justin Smith and senior Kris Gilbert roam the halls trying to get an adult to order the pay-per-view movie “Dude, where’s my car?”<\/p>\n
Anderson enjoys a card game called “tunk” \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which senior Derrick Cheeks says is “black” for “rummy” \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and talks on his cell phone incessantly.<\/p>\n
Some players, who shall remain nameless, sneak upstairs to say hi to their girlfriends.<\/p>\n
9:05 a.m. Friday: As the team sits on the bus awaiting the short ride to IHOP for breakfast, Vandiver leans over to coach Vining.<\/p>\n
“Did you sleep good, coach?” he asked.<\/p>\n
“No,” Vining replied quickly.<\/p>\n
Vandiver smiles and says, “That’s a good sign.”<\/p>\n
9:52 a.m. Friday: The team’s food is late, and Vining is fuming. He actually walks back into the kitchen see what the problem is.<\/p>\n
“He’s mad,” Vining’s wife, Cathy, says. “He’s got his game face on now. He’s thinking about that game.”<\/p>\n
Cathy and Seth were high school sweethearts in Tryon, N.C. They’ve been married since 1973. All four of their parents are in Macon for the big game.<\/p>\n
“I’m worried about my son,” Seth’s 75-year-old mom, Bos Vining says. “I don’t know how he keeps from having a heart attack or ulcers. He hasn’t had any rest now for six weeks.”<\/p>\n
In a nearby booth at the restaurant, East Hall fans Stephanie Conner, 12, Christy Smith, 15, Ashley Usher, 15, Ashley Dale, 15, Kala Holmberg, 17, and Amber Dale, 13, enjoy a pregame meal of their own.<\/p>\n
They had been up until 2 a.m. that morning making special T-shirts for the game.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to get a seat right in the front row, too,” Ashley Dale says.<\/p>\n
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10:45 a.m. Friday: Coach Vining visits with Gainesville head coach Virgil Amey in the hotel lobby. Bitter rivals during the season, the two programs cheer each other on in the tournament \u00e2\u20ac\u201d especially now that they are in different classifications.<\/p>\n
“I hope y’all win it,” Amey says. “Y’all done beat our butts the last two years.”<\/p>\n
11:54 a.m. Friday: Instead of the serious quiet that most teams display on the bus ride to games, the Vikings are quite vociferous.<\/p>\n
They even break into song. “Lean on me.” The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Even “The Star-Spangled Banner.”<\/p>\n
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Noon-1:30 p.m. Friday: The 90 minutes are full of superstitious rituals. Once the Vikings find something that works, they stick with it.<\/p>\n
After layup drills during halftime of the day’s previous game, Mark Causey eats a slice of pizza.<\/p>\n
“I have to,” he says. “I get dizzy if I don’t.”<\/p>\n
At the same time, Vining gives the team his pregame talk. They’re then free to prepare for the game however they choose.<\/p>\n
“Y’all have been special all year,” Vining said. “No matter what happens today, you’re still going to be special. Each one of us knows why we’re here. Let’s be our best from start to finish. Hold nothing back.”<\/p>\n
As the empty minutes of anticipation slowly slip by, Cheeks sits alone and listens to Garth Brooks. Another tradition.<\/p>\n
With three minutes to go in the early game, Dix and the East Hall players gather in the dark shower room beyond their lockers. What follows is best described as some sort of tribal dance, full of chants and spastic convulsions.<\/p>\n
Whatever, it seems to work.<\/p>\n
1:33 p.m. Friday: The Vikings wait in the wings as Taylor County celebrates its win over Buford in the Class A championship.<\/p>\n
“We want to feel that,” Justin Smith says.<\/p>\n
1:41 p.m. Friday: One minute before tip-off, Vining watches his team warm up.<\/p>\n
“Let’s get started,” he says. “I think our guys are ready. I hope they are. It’s in their hands now.”<\/p>\n
“All right baby, let the Lord be with us,” Hardy says as the game begins.<\/p>\n
2:22 p.m. Friday: “Let’s turn it up a notch right here,” says Vining \u00e2\u20ac\u201d not acting like a coach who has a 14-point lead. He has seen Calhoun make too many comebacks to be comfortable.<\/p>\n
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2:29 p.m. Friday: East Hall leads 42-27 at the half.<\/p>\n
“Guys, defensive pressure has been OK,” Vining says to his team. “That’s why we’re ahead. We need to keep it at that level and turn it up a notch.”<\/p>\n
His voice gets louder: “Guys, you’ve got to lay it on the line. This is the last game, the last 16 minutes. Let’s push it to them guys. C’mon, we’ve got half of Gainesville out here to support you. Let’s give them something to get excited about.”<\/p>\n
2:48 p.m. Friday: The Vikings carry a 64-48 lead into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
“Eight minutes and we’re partying in Gainesville,” team chaplain Dave Kline says.<\/p>\n
Mark Causey warns his teammates, “They’re used to coming back. This is no lead for them.”<\/p>\n
2:59 p.m. Friday: Sure enough, the Yellow Jackets make a run. With 48 seconds to play, East Hall’s lead is just 75-67.<\/p>\n
“Act like you want to win this thing instead of giving the doggone thing away,” Vining says to his team during a time out.<\/p>\n
3:05 p.m. Friday: Cheeks cracks a smile. The Vikings hold off the rally and lead 76-67 with 18 seconds to play.<\/p>\n
Vining takes his seniors out of the game \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Anderson, Mark Causey, Cheeks and Ware \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and the East Hall crowd erupts.<\/p>\n
Dix embraces Causey. Cheeks jumps into Ware’s open arms.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/danwashburn.com\/easthall7.jpg\")
3:05 p.m. Friday: The buzzer sounds and the celebration begins.<\/p>\n
Smith accidentally cracks Gilbert with an elbow to the cheek as the team gathers at mid-court.<\/p>\n
Ware receives the trophy and it doesn’t leave his hands for nearly an hour.<\/p>\n
Dix sits on the bench and cries, no doubt thinking of his mother.<\/p>\n
3:14 p.m. Friday: After the celebration spills into the locker room, the team heads to meet their fans, who are waiting en masse at the player entrance ramp.<\/p>\n
Mark Causey walks past a tub full of Calhoun cheer cards that read “Go Jackets!”<\/p>\n
“I guess they’ll have to throw those away now,” he says with a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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