NEW!!!!! The sequel to this page, updates to all the players. Go there now!!! Or for you basketball fans, go to my college basketball 97-98 preview page. Also, go check my B-team tribute on down this page.

It's been 276 days since this great team played their last game, on February 26, 1997.

1. Derek England- Derek was a member of the 8th grade basketball team, but reluctantly moved to McCallister, Oklahoma in disgrace because his shorts were just too short. Derek's new team in McCallister is 17-1 this year and ranked #1 in the conference.
2. The Bleacher Creatures- These rabid WJHS students made Woodland Gym a dreaded road trip for opposing teams. Armed with signs,duck calls, and KFC buckets, they harrased the opposite team to no end. The Bleacher Creatures now have their own home page, masterfully created by Reed Luthanen. I am very happy to have this page on the Internet. We are a team. Luthanen is one of the brightest guy I know. I support his page fully.
3. The employees of Sonic Drive-In- (especially Victoria) These men and women and the food they served was sometimes all that kept the team going, and they never complained once, no matter what we ordered. We salute you.
4. Zorro- Zorro, (or Don Juan De Marco) meaning "the fox" in espanol, has been an inspiration to all who have met him. I personally have not met him, but rumor has it, he and Green Hornet are scheduled for a team pep talk sometime in the near future. Go visit Zorro here.

Final conference standings:

1. Harrison Goblins 16-0
2. Southwest Cougars 14-2
3. Ramay Indians 10-6
4. Woodland Cowboys 9-7
5. Elmwood Raiders 9-7
6. Central Warriors 6-10
7. Walton Tiger Cubs 5-11
8. Siloam Springs Panthers 1-15
9. Oakdale Patriots 1-15

Meet the WJHS 1996-1997 9th Grade basketball team: From left to right--Top Row--Coach Adams, Aaron Lacy, Jacob Porter, Daniel Rew, Cody Clark, Richard Cole, David Hogue, Will Higginbothom, Coach McGuire--Middle Row--Manager Matt Griffin, Justin Paslay, Jeff Turpin, Aaron Tinnin, Ted Serafini, Jay Felker, Ryan Edmonson, Tyler Wheeler, Manager Chase Barber--Bottom Row--Jeff Bednar, Will Collier, Matt Morris, Andrew Brill, Farzad Farzan

Player Profiles (The names in blue can be sent E-mail by clicking on the name).

• Coach Adams--WJHS's fearless leader. Also, Coach Adams has won two straight games of H-O-R-S-E over Cody Clark, thus qualfing him for the coveted title, "the man".
• Aaron Lacy-- 6'1'' "The best shooter on the team." Best known for passing up open shots and having Areta Hill for a girlfriend. (For your sake, we left her picture off).
• Jacob Porter-- 6'2" Porter is famous for high arching shots, deadly head fakes, and blazing speed. How is he so good at basketball?
• Daniel Rew-- 6'1" Spent much of the first semester injured, but came on late. He was a master at shot blocking, he would send the ball flying and say this.
• Cody Clark-- 6'2" What can you say? His first and last name begin with the same letter.
• Richard Cole-- 6'0" Wears the same number as West Virginia basketball star Tom Beynon. Richard was a charter member of the famed Sonic Carpool. His layups are not the prettiest things you've ever seen, they'd fall down the list near Quasimodo and Rump the pot-bellied pig.
• David Hogue-- 5'11" "Full speed or nothin", this is David's motto, and he lives his life by it. David also has the funniest knock, knock jokes ever heard. He is rumored to be emotionally attached to his number 11.
• Will Higginbothom--5'11" "Will U. Hugmybottom" Will is another member of the Sonic Carpool. Will is the only player on the team with neither an "e" or an "a" in his first and last name.
• Coach McGuire--"It's the little things, guys." Coach McGuire had many good pieces of advice that he often gave us. Here are a few: "When in trouble, lay a double," When in doubt, look about."
• Justin Paslay-- 5'7" "Paz" His number symobolizes his favorite shot. Paz was the quickest player on the team, often this was all opponets heard when he blew by them. Paz is also occasionaly honored with a spot in the Sonic Carpool.
• Jeff Turpin-- 5'8" "Turp" Wouldn't that be a good name for a band, how about Turp and the Three Fatty Acids? Turp is one of only two players (along with David Hogue) to have a "u" in his name.
• Aaron Tinnin-- 5'9" "The hardest worker on the team." If his last name ended with a "t" instead of a "n", it would be a palindrome (that means it's spelled the same backwards and forwards).
• Ted Serafini-- 5'10" "Scud Farkus" amazingly popular with the Bleacher Creatures (they have a Shrine to Scud page), and known for constant negativity. Older brother of Tim "Potty Mouth" Serafini. Ted is famed for having a huge forehead and for have an aunt and uncle named the Schlankers. How's that for a funky name?
• Jay Felker-- 5'11" Felk was an intimidator, he could intimidate a two-ton hippo. Notice his similarity to Manager Matt Griffin.
• Ryan Edmonson-- 5'9" Not the brightest guy you'll ever meet, but the guy could make a turnover whenever we needed one. Ryan is prone to passing to his imaginary teammates that only he can see. Ryan was a very violent player, he once broke teammate Matt Morris's nose going for a rebound.
• Tyler Wheeler-- 5'7" Tyler is an extremely gutsy guy. During tryouts, and for the first few weeks of the season, Tyler had a broken right arm, his shooting arm, and still went through tryouts against the wishes of his personal physician and at the risk of permanent damage to his arm.
• Jeff Bednar-- 5'9" "Mono Man" Jeff came down with mono over Christmas Break, we won't mention how he got it. "Buffrey" as he is often called, is one of those guys that helps everyone, he is truly worthy of the title, peer helper.
• Will Collier-- 5'9" Took two joyrides to Chicago and Savannah, Georgia deserting the team in its hour of need. He wears Michael Jordan's number and at 5'9'' he could grab rim, could Jordan do that? Will is a-ok.
• Matt Morris-- 5'9" Matt holds the ball in the team picture for a very good reason, he was told to. Matt often caused spectators to think "hey, the capital of North Dakota really is Bismark."
• Andrew Brill-- 5'9" Another charter member of the Sonic Carpool. I know this guy looks like he is amazingly strong and good at basketball, but both of those assumptions are untrue.
• Farzad Farzan-- 5'7" "the Iranian Sensation" 20 years from now remember this name, for it will still be one of the most unAmerican names you've ever heard.

The B Team

From left to right: Top row- Jeff Turpin, Aaron Tinnin, Ted Serafini, Jay Felker, Ryan Edmonson, Tyler Wheeler: Bottom Row-Jeff Bednar, Coach McGuire (his head on Will Collier's body), Will Higginbothom (his head on Matt Morris's body), Andrew Brill, Farzad Farzan

This B team was the first in school history to go undefeated and often outplayed the other players, demonstrating how well balanced the Woodland team was. Coach McGuire is displayed on the body of Will Collier for various positioning reasons while scanning the picture. As you may have noticed, all the tall players seem to be missing from the B team picture, so apparently, b stands for baja, spanish for short, and yes, a stands for alta, spanish for tall.

Here is a 7th grade picture of 3 great team members: Jacob Porter, Andrew Brill, and Will Higginbothom

Several of the Woodland Players are Ninth Grade Helpers, go visit their home page here.

Game Summaries

January 18,1997---Woodland's "b" team trounced the crosstown rival Ramay team 28-15 behind 6 points from Ryan "I badly need braces" Edmonson and 4 from Will Higginbothom. The lone sad spot in the game was Jay Felker's five fouls.

January 20,1997--- Woodland's "b" team easily won against Bentonville Walton with a 37-21 schlacking. Ryan Edmonson had 13 and Aaron Tinnin 8 to lead the Cowboys. The "A" team won a thriller 26-25. With 15 seconds left, David Hogue was at the foul line with a 24-22 lead, but David missed and Walton calmly hit a three over the outstretched arms of Justin Paslay. With 3 seconds left, it looked bad for the Cowboys, but David Hogue (oh no, not him again), close to a five second violation, heaved a desperation pass down the court, right to Cody Clark. Cody never broke stride catching the pass and putting it up for the layup and game winner. Cody led the team with 11 points.

January 23, 1997---Woodland played ferociously against league favorite Sothewest, but came up just barely short 25-19. Woodland had a great game plan, enthusiasm and better school colors, but it was Southwest's turn to win a game, breaking Woodland's 3 game winning streak. Woodland had a balanced scoring attack with everyone from Tyler Wheeler to Jeff Turpin to Will Higginbothom to David Hogue all scoring the same amount of points.

January 24, 1997---Woodland won for the fourth time in five games Friday with a 43-25 smashing of Siloam Springs. Cody Clark scored 16 to lead the Cowboys past a team led by #20, whose name is a mystery, but is reminiscent of the evil Grinch who stole Christmas. Our team was very positive about our time spent with him. Richard Cole provided the low point in the game, by airballing a free throw from a mere 15 feet away. Ted Serafini got in the game and scored four points!!!!

January 28,1997---Rogers Oakdale came to Woodland looking for a win, and Woodland said no. Once again led by Cody Clark, who turned in a double-double, with diece-siete points, y trece rebounds, and Will Collier who sunk his first ever three-pointer, Woodland shut down the Patriots 30-20. A strange thing happened tonight, when, after only 14 minutes, an Oakdale player #33 fouled out. This is equivalent to a NBA player fouling out at the beginning of the second quarter. Also, this was Coach Adams 200th win, which is 100 less than the number of pushups that Jacob Porter and David Hogue will have to do, combined, in practice tomorrow.

February 3,1997---Woodland played Rogers Oakdale for the second straight game and beat them soundly for the second time, this time 37-30. Oakdale, led by Reagan, #33, and Lanky, #25, were no match for Woodland who once again were led by Codly Clark, who exploded with 16 points. Woodland was also led by Tyler Wheeler who had an error-free, missing no shots and having no turnovers, sometimes a problem for Tyler. The win was the first in three years at Oakdale for Woodland and put the Cowboys at 6-5 in conference and 8-6 overall, including winning for the sixth time in seven games. (We're 8-1 since this page began its' operation, coincidence, I don't think so.)

February 4, 1997---Woodland had a crucial home game ainst the Central Warriors on this night and they were up to the challenge, just barely, winning 37-35. The Cowboys were once again led by Cody Clark who matched Central's "Fatty" point for point, and then had 23 more. Cody finished up with 23 points, Jacob Porter also had a big game as he chipped in with 7. Ryan Edmonson lived up to his billing as a non thinker at the end of the game. Up two points with 2 seconds left, Ryan goes for glory and tries to take a charge, AT HALF COURT!!! Luckily, he did not get called for blocking and the shot went wide left. Woodland's win puts them at 9-6, 7-5 and in sole possesion of 5th place in the conference with four games remaining, making it very possible to make the Regional Tournament.

February 9, 1996--- Woodland traveled to Siloam Springs for a battle with the Panther Cubs and came back with win number 10 of the season. Woodland (10-6, 8-5) overcome a lackluster first half performance to give the Cubs an old-fashioned whuppin' 51-30. Cody Clark led all scorers with 21. Aaron Lacy also had a good game, taking full advantage of his first start of the year with 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and he even chipped in with a turnover. Also with a brilliant performance was Aaron Tinnin, who, late in the game, received a brilliantly timed personal foul to preserve the win. For Siloam Springs, it was surprisingly not #20 (see January 24) who had the big game, it was #50, Ogre Boy. He recorded several trash buckets after lucky rebounds. Also key to the preparation for the game was the free-throw showdown between team members. It came down to Aaron "I want my mommy" Lacy, and Andrew Brill. Both hit 12 straight and 16 out of 17 before it was called off because of time constraints.

February 13, 1997--- On Valentine's Eve, the Goblins of Harrison sure weren't very loving. The undefeated league leaders came into Woodland Gym and stole a 37-25 victory from the Cowboys. But Woodland played a terrible game and still kept it close, showing that they were for real. For Woodland, Daniel Rew had a big game with 10 points. Cody Clark added 7 for the Cowboys, not his best game, but still a quality production. With only two games left in the regular season, Woodland is fighting for a regional tournament berth, and this loss only adds to the mounting pressure.

February 17, 1997--On this President's Day, Woodland faced off against crosstown rival Ramay. In the "b" game, Woodland won a thriller 31-30 behind 10 points from Ryan Edmonson. Andrew Brill also threw in 9. Farzad Farzan was very consistent with 1 point, 1 rebound and even 1 assist. With 3 seconds left, and down 1, Brill realized that Tyler Wheeler had yet to score, so he missed his layup, allowing Tyler to get the rebound and proceed to be fouled and coolly sink both free throws for the one point win. With the win, the team became the first ever undefeated "b" team in school history. In the "a" game, Woodland dropped its' second straight game 48-41 in overtime. Woodland fought valiantly to come back from a 14 point deficit, and a double digit deficit at the outset of the fourth quarter. For several trips it seemed simply like a 1 on 1 game between Cody Clark and Spencer Flowers,both finished with 18 points. Daniel Rew also chipped in with 8. But in the end, Ramay's domination of the boards in th overtime led to the win.

February 20, 1997---With a Regional Tournament berth on the line, the Cowboys went out and beat Elmwood 33-30 to earn a trip to Van Buren to play Fort Smith Chaffin. Daniel Rew had 12 and Cody Clark, 10, to help overcome horrendous outside shooting by the Cowboys. The teams were never more than 4 points apart until the early 4th quarter when Woodland spurted out to an 8 point advantage. From there they coasted, with Elmwood placing only minor scares into the hearts of Woodland fans worldwide. The victory placed Woodland 4th in conference and Elmwood 5th, keeping the Raiders out, and putting the Cowboys in.

February 26, 1997--- Against Fort Smith Chaffin in the Regional Tournament, Woodland showed why it finished fourth in the conference and not first. Two words, unforced errors. Woodland had a bad first half and could not climb all the way back in the 2nd, they ended up losing 51-26. This was the last game of the year, and for some players, the last competitive game they'll ever play. David Hogue had 6 to lead Woodland. Farzad's cousin, Ali, for Chaffin had a big game.We lost, season's over, that's about all you can say.

WJHS Info: The Woodland Junior High Cowboys are the crown jewel of Fayetteville, Arkansas, attracting top talent from such far away places as Iran and Lubbock, Texas. A trip to Earth is not complete without a visit to a WJHS basketball game (preferably a game we'll win). WJHS is also the only school in its conference to have a web site for its' basketball team, (you may beat us at basketball, but gosh dang it, no one's gonna see it on the Internet).

WJHS Little Known Facts:

1. The Duke University Basketball Team took the idea for their uniforms from Woodland's new duds (not seen in this picture).
2. Woodland's own Ted Serafini once lived in Niger, Africa and is known to run while carrying a ceramic pot on his head. Neat, huh.
3. McDonald's Restuarants once planned a commercial involving the WJHS players, but withdrew their offer once they discovered that only the 8th graders actually ate there.
4. Woodland got its' colors from the famed TV show, "The Smurfs". The TV Show is in the process of being made into a live action movie, with Coach Adams as Papa Smurf and Southwest's Coach Price as the evil Gargumel with Chad Ware as Gargumel's cat.
5. The favorite teacher of the team is Mrs. Lee. Ten players are students under Mrs. Lee's tyrannical rule. Rumor has it that Mrs. Lee's husband, Bunky, is going to be part of a new Nike commercial, in which Tiger Woods comes on the screen and says, "I'm Bunky Lee." Rumor also has it that Mrs. Lee gives extra points to team member Will Higginbothom to ensure that he receives an "A" in her class. That's strictly rumor, though.
6. The WJHS mascot was almost changed to the hippopotamuses. That idea was scratched when it was discovered, that among other people, Ryan Edmonson could not spell the word hippopotamus. Bleacher Creature Reed Luthanen was especially disappointed because he was looking forward to dressing up as a hippo.
7. Towards the end of most games, fans would become impatient, and would try to get Farzad Farzan into the game on their own. Their usual tactic was to have one side of the stands yell FAR, and the other side yell ZAD, and it would go back and forth FAR-ZAD, FAR-ZAD, FAR-ZAD.
8. Besides being the inspiration behind Duke University's uniform, Woodland's team logo has become so popular throughout the country that the University of Wisconsin has chosen the same logo. Also, the name "Woodland" was the inspiration behind the naming of the Eastern Woodland Indians.
9. Loyalty to Woodland is so great that it tears families apart. Tyler Wheeler's cousin is a star guard for the Harrison Goblins. Rumor has it that Tyler's cousin was so afraid of getting shown up by Tyler that he broke Tyler's arm several weeks before the game. Tyler, being the great guy that he is, blamed it on a football injury in an effort to protect his cousin.

WJHS Team Mottos: (most taken from Coach McGuire quotes)

• It's the little things, guys
• When in doubt, look about
• When in trouble, play a double
• Our socks are taller than theirs
• X marks the spot
• 90% of this game is mental, the other half is physical
• Full speed or nuthin'
• Pain is weakness leaving the body

If you do not have speakers (specifically, I'm speaking to the WJHS teachers), you are not experiencing this page to its' full extent. Because if the pictures have downloaded, you could be hearing one of our warmup songs, as well as several other great sound clips. Maybe you'd recognize them, but now we'll never know. If you have speakers and you're still not hearing it, you must be doing something wrong because I can hear it on my computer.

Complaints: I know you're probably amazed that I would have complaints with such a great page, but people have complained to me that I should mention the Woodland Girls basketball team. Okay, there is a girls basketball team at Woodland, so I've heard, but that may be just a viscious rumor.

I got awards for having such a neat-o page!!!

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