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BOURBON - The Optimist Club in Indianapolis hosted a banquet Friday for all eight girls basketball teams in the state finals. Signs had been made up for each team, but there were only seven. One was missing.
Triton's was missing.
When Triton principal Ted Chittum inquired about his school's sign, he was told, "You're not going to like this. It said 'Tipton Trojans.'"
The Optimist Club made trophies for each team. One trophy had the wrong school name.
Triton's trophy had the wrong school name. Triton's trophy had "Triton Central" engraved on it.
Any extra motivation Triton needed was unintentionally provided when the Trojans were dissed not once but twice. The unranked 20-7 Trojans won the Class A state title the next day by beating No. 4 25-3 Rising Sun 57-54 in overtime at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
"One of the biggest incentives," Triton junior forward Rachel Speicher said at a Sunday celebration, "was not seeing our sign. Next year, they will know who we are."
The Bourbon, Tippecanoe and Etna Green communities know who the Trojans are, and they turned out in full force all weekend to support them.
An estimated 1,500 fans traveled to the state finals in Indianapolis to root for Triton, a school with 346 students. At Sunday's celebration rally in Bourbon, Triton fans filled three-quarters of one side of Triton's gym, and the gym holds 3,500. Decorated cars, trucks and even a semi streamed into the parking lot. The cheers in the gym to welcome the players home were so loud you couldn't carry on a conversation with the person beside you.
A caravan of ambulances, fire trucks and police cars met Triton's bus at the intersection of Ind. 331 and Ind. 25. The caravan traveled through Tippecanoe and Etna Green before arriving in Bourbon.
It is pretty much agreed that this state title is the biggest event - sports-related or non-sports-related - to ever happen to the Bourbon-Etna Green-Tippecanoe community.
Just ask Bill Moriarty, who has spent his whole life in the area. The 74-year-old who drives Triton's girls basketball team bus is from Tippecanoe and now lives in Atwood. He has driven a bus for the school corporation for 43 years.
"Boy, there's nothing else I can think of right now," he said. "The boys went to semistate in 1965, but they didn't make it to state."
People plastered signs everywhere, from front yards to in front of the sewage plant, which had a large sign near the road that read, "Way to flush 'em down girls!" From Etna Green to the north side of Bourbon, 29 signs were counted that congratulated the Trojans.
They did not receive an invitation to visit the White House - at least not yet - but Indiana state representative Bill Ruppel, R-North Manchester, stopped by and invited the team to attend the next legislative session at the house and senate. Then he talked about sophomore Amber Feldman's shot, the three-pointer from the right wing that won the game at the final horn in overtime.
"I was talking with an official, John Sorg, during the game," Ruppel said. "He was sitting in the stands when Bobby Plump hit his shot for Milan in 1954. He said it was at the right elbow near the top of the key.
"History repeats itself."
The highlight for Triton's players at Sunday's celebration was seeing their coach live up to his end of a bet. The week of the state finals, Triton coach Mark Heeter told his players if they won the state title, they could bleach his hair and shave the mustache he's had since his college days in 1984.
Heeter was supposed to get his hair bleached blond, but he entered the gym with orange hair. He still had his mustache, although senior forward Missy Nifong and senior manager Kristi Sechrist took care of that. In front of the fans and TV cameras, Nifong shaved off the left side and Sechrist the right side.
To Heeter, rusty-colored hair and a clean-shaven face were a small price to pay for a state championship. The way his team won the title after being disrespected at Friday's banquet made the weekend even a tad bit sweeter.
"I told the girls that if they can't get it right, let's give them something to remember us by," he said. "I think they'll remember us."
