A Modern History and tribute to the Centennial Conference Boys Basketball Tournament

It’s Centennial Conference week and I thought it would be appropriate to turn back the pages a bit, so let’s compile a history of the Centennial Conference Basketball Tournament Finals played since 1996.

The “New Era” is based on when the first teams west of the David City/Columbus areas joined the Conference. Those teams were Grand Island Central Catholic, Hastings St. Cecilia, Kearney Catholic and Omaha Concordia..

GICC joined in 1996, as far as I can figure, and St. Cecilia had to be right around 1996, then Omaha Concordia (2010) Kearney Catholic in 2018.

If the Centennial Conference isn’t the toughest athletic conference in the state of Nebraska, it has to be close.

And the scary thing is that we have only covered Boys Basketball thus far here. Football has to be right up there and more frightening is the fact we haven’t even touched on Girls Volleyball or Basketball.

*Centennial Conference Tournament Boys Finals*

*1996 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 63-61 Lincoln Christian (@ Neumann)

State Tournament teams that season; Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Columbus Scotus (C-1)

Lincoln Christian (C-2).

*Lincoln Christian lost to Stanton 67-66 in overtime in the C-2 Finals.

*1997 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 56-46 Grand Island Central Catholic

State Tournament teams; David City Aquinas (C-1), Omaha Flanagan (C-1), Wahoo Neumann (C-1), Hastings St. Cecilia (C-1).

*David City Aquinas - 1997 Class C-1 State Champion*

*1998 Final* - Elkhorn Mt. Michael 76-65 David City Aquinas

State Tournament teams; Lincoln Christian (C-1).

*1999 Final* - Elkhorn Mt. Michael 55-49 Lincoln Christian (Killer Kane’s 500th Win)

State Tournament teams; Lincoln Christian (C-1), Elkhorn Mt. Michael (C-1).

*Lincoln Christian - 1999 Class C-1 State Champion*

*2000 Final* - Elkhorn Mt. Michael 63-59 Grand Island Central Catholic

State Tournament Teams; Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Elkhorn Mt. Michael (C-1), David City Aquinas (C-1).

*Grand Island Central Catholic - 2000 Class C-1 State Champion*

*2001 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 70-51 Hastings St. Cecilia

State Tournament Teams: Wahoo Neumann (C-1), Hastings St. Cecilia (C-1).

*Wahoo Neumann lost to Columbus Lakeview 55-53 in C-1 Final

*2002 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 69-51 Grand Island Catholic Catholic

State Tournament Teams:

Wahoo Neumann (C-1), Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Fremont Bergan (C-2).

*Wahoo Neumann - 2002 Class C-1 State Champion*

*2003 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 79-65 Council Bluffs St. Albert

State Tournament Teams;

Wahoo Neumann (C-1), Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1).

*Wahoo Neumann - 2003 Class C-1 State Champion*

*2004 Final* - Grand Island Central Catholic 50-36 Elkhorn Mt. Michael

State Tournament Teams; Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Lincoln Christian (C-1), Elkhorn Mt. Michael (C-1).

*Lincoln Christian lost to Kearney Catholic 63-48 in the C-1 Final.

*2005 Final* - Elkhorn Mt. Michael 68-52 Wahoo Neumann

State Tournament Teams; Wahoo Neumann (C-1), Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Boys Town (C-1).

*Wahoo Neumann lost to Syracuse 55-46 in the C-1 Final.

*2006 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 83-43 Lincoln Christian

State Tournament Teams; Boys Town (C-1)

Wahoo Neumann (C-1), David City Aquinas (C-2).

*Boys Town - 2006 Class C-1 State Champion*

*David City Aquinas - 2006 Class C-2 State Champion*

*2007 Final* - Fremont Bergan 57-46 Grand Island Central Catholic

State Tournament Teams; Hastings St. Cecilia (C-1), Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Fremont Bergan (C-2).

*2008 Final* - Fremont Bergan 79-71 Boys Town (Bergan was D-1 that year)

State Tournament Teams; Hastings St. Cecilia (C-1), Boys Town (C-1), Lincoln Lutheran (C-1), Grand Island Central Catholic (C-2), Fremont Began (D-1).

*Hastings St. Cecilia - 2008 Class C-1 State Champion

*Fremont Bergan - 2008 Class D-1 State Champion

*2009 Final* - Hastings St. Cecilia 68-44 Council Bluffs St. Albert

State Tournament Teams; Hastings St. Cecilia (C-1), Fremont Bergan (C-2)

*Hastings St. Cecilia - 2009 Class C-1 State Champion

*Fremont Bergan won 3rd Place in Class C-2

*2010 Final* - Hastings St. Cecilia 42-39 Grand Island Central Catholic

State Tournament Teams; Hastings St. Cecilia C-1), Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Fremont Bergan (C-2)

*Hastings St. Cecilia - 2010 Class C-1 State Champion *

*Fremont Bergan lost Class C-2 Third Place Game to Axtell 57-51

*2011 Final* - Grand Island Central Catholic 40-36 Fremont Bergan

State Tournament Teams; Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Wahoo Neumann (C-1),Lincoln Christian (C-1), Fremont Bergan (C-2).

Lincoln Christian beat Fremont Bergan in the C-2 Final 46-43.

*Lincoln Christian - 2011 Class C-1 State Champion

*Fremont Bergan - 2011 Class C-1 Runner-Up

*2012 Final* - Boys Town 82-44 Fremont Bergan

State Tournament Teams; Boys Town (C-1), Lincoln Christian (C-1), Wahoo Neumann (C-1).

*Boys Town - 2012 Class C-1 State Champion

*2013 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 59-55 Lincoln Christian (OVE)

State Tournament Teams; Lincoln Christian (C-1), Fremont Bergan (C-2).

*2014 Final* - Lincoln Christian 58-55 Columbus Scotus (OVE)

State Tournament Teams; Wahoo Neumann (C-1), Columbus Scotus (C-1), Fremont Bergan (C-2).

*Wahoo Neumann - 2014 Class C-1 State Champion

*Fremont Bergan - 2014 Class C-2 State Champion

*2015 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 65-63 Grand Island Central Catholic

State Tournament Teams; Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Lincoln Christian (C-1), Wahoo Neumann (C-1), Columbus Scotus (C-1), Fremont Bergan (C-2), David City Aquinas (C-2), Hastings St. Cecilia (C-2).

*Scotus lost to Winnebago 66-51 in C-1 Final,

*GICC beat Wahoo Neumann for 3rd Place (C-1).

*Hastings St. Cecilia was Class C-2 State Champion,

*Fremont Bergan won 3rd Place in Class C-2.

*2016 Final* - Columbus Scotus 56-52 Hastings St. Cecilia (OVE)

State Tournament Teams; Wahoo Neumann (C-1), Hastings St. Cecilia (C-2), Fremont Bergan (D-1)..

*Wahoo Neumann was C-1 State Champion

*Hastings St. Cecilia was C-2 State Champion.

*2017 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 79-54 Boys Town

State Tournament Teams; Wahoo Neumann (C1), Columbus Scotus (C-1), Boys Town (C-1), Hastings St. Cecilia (C-2), Fremont Bergan (C-2).

*Wahoo Neumann was Class C-1 State Champion

*Hastings St. Cecilia won 3rd Place in Class C-2.

*2018 Final* - Hastings St. Cecilia 55-40 Grand Island Central Catholic

State Tournament Teams; Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Lincoln Christian (C-1), Hastings St. Cecilia (C-2).

*Lincoln Christian won 3rd place in Class C-1

*Hastings St. Cecilia lost to Ponca 50-40 in the Class C-2 Final.

*2019 Final* - Wahoo Neumann 57-47 Lincoln Christian

State Tournament Teams; Grand Island Central Catholic (C-1), Fremont Bergan (D-1)

*Fremont Bergan lost to Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family 61-46 in the Class D-1 Final.

*2020 Final* - Grand Island Central Catholic 66-54 Lincoln Christian

State Tournament Teams: Lincoln Christian (C-1) Kearney Catholic (C-1), Grand Island Central Catholic (C-2)

*Grand Island Central Catholic lost to Bancroft-Rosalie in the C-2 Finals

*2021 Final* - Kearney Catholic 53-52 Grand Island Central Catholic

State Tournament Teams: Omaha Concordia (C-1) Kearney Catholic (C-1), Grand Island Central Catholic (C-2)*

*Grand Island Central Catholic defeated Yutan to win the Class C-2 State Championship

*2022 Final* - Kearney Catholic 53-45 Hastings St. Cecilia

State Tournament Teams: Omaha Concordia (C-1) Kearney Catholic (C-1), Grand Island Central Catholic (C-2)

*Grand Island Central Catholic lost to Humphrey/LHF (OT) in the C-2 Finals

*2023 Final* - Lincoln Lutheran 65-55 Columbus Scotus

State Tournament Teams: Omaha Concordia (C-1).

*2024 Final* - Omaha Concordia 53-32 Wahoo Neumann

State Tournament Teams: Omaha Concordia (C-1) Lincoln Lutheran (C-2),

*Omaha Concordia defeated Ashland-Greenwood 59-44 in the Class C-1 3rd Place Game, Lincoln Lutheran lost to Amherst 59-54 (OT) in the Class C-2 Final.

*2025 Final* - Grand Island Central Catholic 46-45 Lincoln Lutheran

State Tournament Teams: Omaha Concordia (C-1) Lincoln Lutheran (C-1), Fremont Bergan (C-2)*

*Omaha Concordia lost to Ashland-Greenwood 53-39 in the Class C-1 State Championship, Lincoln Lutheran defeated Doniphan-Trumbull 60-51 to win the 3rd Place Class C-1 game, Fremont Bergan defeated Cross County 53-42 to win the Class C-2 State Championship