Frankfort High School’s mascot, a snarling dachshund named Frankie the Hot Dog, is that rare double threat in mascots: he’s cute enough for toddlers’ clothing, but still fierce enough to tell opponents “We mean business” when painted at midcourt, as he is in Case Arena, one of the largest and most historical basketball temples in our state which worships the game. (Don’t think a dachshund can be fierce? Ask a badger.) Case Arena is the 19th largest high school basketball arena on Earth, but only the 16th largest in Indiana- a very cool piece of trivia. Problem is, Frankie the Hot Dog hasn’t seen a lot of very good basketball lately. Frankfort, one of the state’s winningest programs with 48 Sectional titles, won the majority of them before Nixon’s impeachment, and have only two this century, in 2012 and 2013. This year’s team won two games, as did last year’s team. Ouch. So imagine Frankie’s good fortune to have been able to witness the Sectional 25 championship game Saturday night between two of the hottest teams in the state, 3A #10 Brebeuf, winners of ten in a row, against 3A #5 Guerin Catholic, who had dual win streaks of 12 games overall and four straight against Brebeuf. Their last meeting was Jan. 23 at Brebeuf- the last Braves loss before the current win streak- and it gave the Golden Eagles the last ever Circle City Conference championship. Oh yeah- Guerin had also beaten Brebeuf three straight times in Sectional play, ensuring that coach Allen Glunt’s first three seasons at Brebeuf all ended the same way: with a playoff loss to a rival school. But not this time. No Sir. Austin Ford, Brebeuf’s senior team leader and spirit animal, calmly sank the winning free throw with 1.5 seconds remaining to give the Braves a 48-47 victory over Guerin and deliver his school its first Sectional title since 2022, and the biggest win of Coach Glunt’s Brebeuf career. In doing so, he vanquished the ghosts of the March 2, 2024 Guerin 2OT miracle finish that defeated then #1-ranked Brebeuf and its collection of D1 recruits in the sectional semifinal. There is one current roster player who played in that game: Austin Ford. “We knew we were going to put the ball in Austin’s hands.” Glunt said of the final play. “Assistant coach Ron Moore got us into an action to try and create some space for Austin to make a play, and he did just that.” Actually, what Ford did was channel his inner Frankie the Hot Dog. Go with me, and I’ll connect the dots. You see, Dachshunds were bred in 19th Century Germany to be pack hunters of (primarily) badgers; to chase them into their lairs, and blindly follow them in, snarling and snapping before dragging them out. Dachshunds were always smaller than the animals they were after, but it didn’t matter to the Dachshunds, who always won the battle of ferocity and determination. Quoting from the American Kennel Club’s website: “Trapped in tight tunnels, relying on its own wits, the Dachshund needed to be independent, bold, and not a little bit combative. It’s no wonder the Dachshund standard describes these dogs as ‘courageous to the point of rashness.’” Courageous to the point of rashness. That was Austin Ford late against Guerin, driving into the lane amongst a bevy of 6’8” Golden Eagle defenders- guys that hadn’t lost a close game in months- and getting contact while putting up his shot. It was the second time in 38 seconds that Ford had pulled off the trick, having hit one of two free throws on the previous possession to tie this game- the fifth tie in a bite-them-down-to-the-quick game that featured nine lead changes. That made the score 47-47, and was followed by an uncharacteristic Guerin turnover, when Hayden Rogers threw a pass to Carter Murans on the left baseline that sailed over his hands out of bounds. Then, time outs, hand-wringing by all the mothers in attendance, and Austin Ford running, juking, courageously and rashly, into the lane to win the game. Even though Austin scored the final two points of the night, there were other standout performances from Brebeuf players. Just as throughout this entire win streak, different players stepped up throughout the course of the game: • Chace Ford’s six points and Dylan Logan’s five points during the 15-0 run Brebeuf used to turn a five-point deficit into a ten-point lead in the second quarter. Guerin closed the half on a seven-point run of their own, but the run established Brebeuf as the hunters on this night. • Antonio Harris’ huge stretch in the fourth quarter: first he sprinted in off a Jayden Washington steal for an acrobatic layup to make it 42-38 Brebeuf. On the next possession, Harris got three consecutive offensive rebounds from a Logan missed three-pointer, literally playing keep-away from the entire Guerin front line, before finally getting fouled and making both free throws. That made it 44-38, and the Braves would need every bit of that lead in the closing minute. • Logan (4/4), Harris (2/2) and Austin (2/3) delivering at the free throw line in the fourth quarter of the biggest game of the year, when the stress meter had been dialed to “throw up in your mouth.” All of it adds up to a great story, one of the best of Indiana Sectional Championship Saturday. Eleven straight victories- Brebeuf’s longest win streak in 24 years- from a team that had been left at the curb by the basketball media when they were 6-7 after the Guerin loss. This team was too short (after the departure of 6’ 10” junior Ben McKinney to Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas), got too rattled after shooting droughts, and couldn’t hit clutch free throws. May we all improve at our deficiencies in life as well as this basketball team has improved theirs these past twelve games. Now they’re ranked #10 in the 3A poll (#3 in the 3A Sagarin Ratings, for you data freaks), and the reward for winning the sectional is a date this Saturday at the Martinsville Regional against #3-ranked Cathedral. Good ol’ Cathedral, who Brebeuf plays every year, and who has beaten Brebeuf …wait for it… 25 times in a row. Lots of those games were close, including the 71-62 game earlier this season, but close won’t win a Regional on Saturday. (Side note: the fact that a beloved Catholic school such as Cathedral has a 25-game win streak over an equally-beloved Jesuit school like Brebeuf, who in turn has a 19-game win streak over a third (mostly) beloved Catholic school- Bishop Chatard- just might prove that God, while answering our prayers to look after our student-athletes, doesn’t really care who wins the games. Sorry, Kurt Warner.) The last time a Brebeuf team defeated Cathedral in mens basketball was December 27, 1999. Allen Glunt was 14 years old. “We will take a big swing at them,” Glunt said of the game with the Irish, channeling his inner Norman Dale. One thing is certain: these Brebeuf Dachshunds, er, I mean Braves, will charge into the matchup with the Irish snarling and snapping, courageous to the point of rashness. This team will make us proud, win or lose. Frankie the Hot Dog would have it no other way.