LAONA - Laona/Wabeno coach Bill Taylor has a game to get his team ready for, one that they've been anticipating for six months.
"We're hoping this could be a once in a lifetime chance for most kids," Taylor said.
It's not every day that a small Forest County school gets to play in the home of the Milwaukee Bucks.
"We're pretty excited," sophomore Reed Christianson said. "We've been waiting almost all year, we've known that the trip was coming, so we're pretty excited to get down there and play."
The Bucks offer high schools the chance to play in Fiserv Forum if they raise enough money to buy a certain amount of tickets.
It's a task that took the entire Laona/Wabeno community's help.
"The kids went out and sold spaghetti dinner tickets at a Wabeno-Area Players play," Taylor said. "The Oshkosh Jazz Band came up. Our fab lab in Wabeno made five fire rings and generated quite a few dollars for that."
All that cash brought Laona/Wabeno a chance to play their old rival Crivitz in a new location.
"They're going to give us a run for our money on the court," senior Jesse Pakulski said. "It'll be a good game overall. I hope it's close, at least."
Close or not, the trip will be an experience the players never forget.
"I know they're all watching the NBA highlights and what it's going to be like to play there," Taylor said. "It's great for our community and great for our program."
Laona/Wabeno and Crivitz used to play more often before they were moved to different conferences.
That game will tip off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
| Story By: Andrew Goldstein |
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