For Grant Hardy, Nathan Ramus and Will Sweeney, it was now or never.
In their fourth year together on varsity for the Appleton North boys basketball team, the senior trio was still chasing an elusive goal.
The Lightning had never won a Fox Valley Association boys basketball title in program history, and there were reminders of that every time they stepped in the gym.
“At the beginning of the year we always set our goals and in the past it’s been just to play our best ball at the end of the year,” Hardy said. “But this year, we changed that to a conference [championship]. The school opened in 1995, and that banner’s been blank ever since. We had a talented group come in and we said this is what we want to put our mind to, and that’s what we executed.”
The Lightning clinched the program’s first conference title with a 56-36 victory over Neenah on Feb. 26. The win gave North a 16-2 record in the FVA and a share of the league title with Kaukauna.
“It didn’t really matter at all if we shared it or won it outright. We came into the season, our main goal was put a number on that banner,” Ramus said. “We look at it every day in practice. There’s nothing up there. It’s the biggest motivator ever. So every day in practice we’ve been working all year for this, and it feels amazing finally getting this.”
Hardy, Ramus and Sweeney have played a lot of basketball together and have been among the best players in the FVA the last four seasons, guiding the Lightning to a 67-35 overall record – including 38-12 the last two seasons.
Hardy was second-team all-FVA and Ramus was honorable mention as freshman. Ramus and Sweeney were second-team all-FVA as sophomores and Hardy was honorable mention. Ramus was first team last season, while Hardy and Sweeney made second team.
With the clock winding down on their high school careers, getting that conference title was the No. 1 goal since the start of offseason workouts.
“When you’ve got three guys that have started for four years, that’s got to be your first goal,” said North coach Chris Kellett, who also mentioned the contributions of senior Ben Zdzieblowski. “I can’t say enough about these guys to get the first one and we talked about leaving a legacy, and for the rest of their lives we’ll see that year up on the board.”
As much as they have enjoyed getting the conference championship monkey off their back, North’s work isn’t done.
The Lightning, which is 20-4 overall, is a No. 2 seed in the WIAA Division 1 playoffs and will host Hortonville in a regional semifinal March 6.
North beat Hortonville (7-18) twice during the regular season – 83-27 on Dec. 23 and 80-63 on Feb. 6. If the Lightning can beat the Polar Bears, a potential regional final matchup against FVA rival Kimberly awaits the next night.
North could potentially face No. 3 seed and defending Division 1 state runner-up Marshfield in the sectional semifinals, then No. 1 seed D.C. Everest or possibly FVA rivals Kaukauna or Neenah in the sectional final.
“It’s win or go home,” Hardy said. “You don’t play well and another team does, it doesn’t matter who they are, if they were on top or bottom of the conference, you can lose that game. So I think we’re just going to take it one day at a time, one practice at a time to prep for those games.”
As elusive as that first FVA title was, the Lightning also has never advanced to the state tournament.
North made it to a sectional semifinal in 2023 when Hardy, Ramus and Sweeney were freshmen, losing to Superior 45-42 in overtime. They lost to Kimberly in a regional semifinal in 2024 and lost to Kimberly in a regional final last year.
Ramus, who is fourth on the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game just behind Sweeney (13.1), said North is treating the postseason like any other game.
“Nothing changes. Just keeping that same mindset, to go 1-0 every night,” he said. “We’re prepping for every game just like it’s a sectional final or state game. And that’s going to lead us to have a good mindset to hopefully make a good run.”
Hardy, who is second on the Lightning in scoring at 14.6 points per game behind sophomore Matthew Rosplochowski (16.5), said everyone on the roster has set aside their egos for the good of the team.
“We have belief in each other, and none of us are selfish,” Hardy said. “If one night we have 20, the other night we have five, but both of them are wins, that’s really all we care about. I think a lot of us had to set our egos aside. Everybody, honestly, we all just had to set it aside, and basically just thinking winning is our main goal, nothing else, no points, rebounds, assists, just wins.”
WIAA boys basketball regional semifinals
All games 7 p.m. Friday, March 6
Division 1: Neenah (15-9) at Hudson (17-7), Eau Claire North (8-16) at Kaukauna (21-3), Appleton West (8-16) at Marshfield (19-5), Holmen (13-11) at Kimberly (15-9), Hortonville (7-18) at Appleton North (20-4).
Division 2: Menasha (9-16) at Onalaska (20-3), New London (15-8) at West Salem (20-4), Tomah (13-12) at Fox Valley Lutheran (15-9).
Division 3: Wrightstown (11-14) at Freedom (23-1), Menominee Nation (14-11) at Seymour (23-1), Ripon (9-16) at Brillion (21-3), Winneconne (17-8) at Little Chute (15-9), Kiel (16-9) at Xavier (17-7).
Division 4: Manawa (9-16) at Kewaunee (24-0), Algoma (19-6) at St. Mary Catholic (16-8).
Division 5: Hilbert (13-12) at Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah (16-9).
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: With FVA title finally secured, Appleton North boys basketball eyes more
Reporting by Mike Sherry, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
