The Upsets: Massac County over Cairo - 2004 IHSA Class A Massac County Regional Championship Game

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This is the first of a series of what ABV considers the 10 biggest postseason upsets in southern Illinois since 1971-72.

Patriots upsets top-ranked Cairo
Massac County holds off Pilots, 64-61; Jacobs clutch free throws send Pats to sectional

12-13-2020
BY JACK BULLOCK
It was a grand moment in the history of the Massac County boy's basketball program.

Yes, they had won regional titles before and yes, they have won one since.

But the victory on February 27, 2004, isn't remembered so much for how great the Patriots played in their home upset of then undefeated and top-ranked Cairo, 64-61.

No, it is remembered because of the aftermath of the contest.

To call it a brawl would be incorrect. It was a riot. A melee.

It was confusion and violence that should never have happened.

It was injuries and pepper spray.

It was trips to the hospital and the police station.

A disturbance that caused multiple law enforcement agencies to be involved and it took hours to sort out.

Arrests were made and discipline was handed out afterwards.

The officials of that game were sheltered and not allowed to leave and were safely kept in separate lockerroom until the police had things under control.

It was a black eye on what would have gone down as one of the great regional championship games in the history of the Illinois High School Association.

The Rivalry

Although the two teams seldom if ever played regular season games, they had met in a few important post-season contests.

Prior to this regional title game, Massac County and Cairo had played in regional championship games in three of the previous four years before this contest.

In 2000, the Patriots took control early and beat the Pilots on their home floor in winning 74-59.

There was a fan incident after the game outside of the gym where a Massac County fan was injured but it was nothing like what was going to happen in 2004.

Massac ended up winning a sectional title.

The following year Cairo turned the tables, beating Massac County 76-71 in the title game at Mounds Meridian Regional.

The Pilots lost to eventual state champion Pinckneyville in the sectional title game.

In 2002 again the game was played in a regional final at Massac County.

Cairo squeaked by the Patriots, 66-62.

The Pilots once again lost to Pinckneyville at the Pinckneyville Sectional.

The two teams didn't meet in 2002-03 as Century took care of Massac in the regional semifinals and then lost to Cairo as the Pilots rolled all the way to Peoria.

Before 2000, the two programs met three times in the post-season.

All three games were in sectionals and all three were at Max Morris Gymnasium.

Cairo beat Massac, 84-60, in the 1992 West Frankfort Sectional final.

The Pilots would go on to lose to Benton and JoJo Johnson in the super-sectional.

Massac County beat Cairo in the 1989 West Frankfort Sectional semifinals, 70-68.

The Patriots then lost to Norris City-Omaha-Enfield in the sectional championship game.

The other contest was also at West Frankfort in 1983.

This time Cairo won big, 101-62 at the 1983 West Frankfort sectional.

Cairo then lost to McLeansboro the following game in the sectional final.

In those years prior to 1999-00, Massac County and Cairo were separated in the post-season as Cairo is located in the western part of deep southern Illinois while Massac County is further east.

Both stayed in their geographic areas as if there was some sort of imaginary line drawn down the middle of Little Egypt (as it has always been called) to separate the two sides of area.

This changed in the 2000 state tournament.

The Build Up

It (the game) had all of the drama you could ask for.

An unbeaten team from a small impoverished community that loved their basketball team; the Cairo Pilots.

Stories had been written about the team from around the state, and even in some national publications, that this team was putting it all together for a run at a state championship.

Many of the players were returning from the previous season's squad that finished fourth in the state in 2002-03.

It was a team that was beaming with talent with Coach Larry Baldwin in charge.

Brandon Childs was a 6-foot play making guard who was the ABV Class A “Player of the Year” in 2004.

They had 5-foot-8 senior guard Gary Williams who handled the duties of running this fast paced, high scoring juggernaut of a team.

The forwards on this team were athletic, talented and could finish the fast breaks that they loved to run.

Seniors Seville Bell and Kalin Lowe were both 6-foot-5 thoroughbreds that turned passes into easy scores during this banner season.

They had a 6-foot-3 Anthony Jackson, a middle man anchor who could rebound and defend.

The Pilots were everything you needed for a boy's high school basketball team.

Size, speed, skill.

And the bench ended up playing a big part of their success.

Anthony Duncan, Eric Williams, Jamal McCallister, Jeremy Woods and Byron Johnson were so talented that they would all have been starters at most teams, large or small, in southern Illinois.

And Russell Mackins, a 6-foot-6 freshman, might have been the best of them all.

They spent the entire 2003-04 season rolling past competition in a relentless fashion.

They nearly won the maximum amount of games that they could play under the IHSA rules.

They won 15 regular season games (16 was the maximum) and 15 regular season tournament games.

All three of their tournaments (DuQuoin, Marion, Benton) were six-team round robin formats, meaning that Cairo played everyone at each of the events (five games each).

They beat them all in a 30-0 regular season sweep.

One of the victories was a 69-52 thumping of Pinckneyville in the final game of the Benton Invitational Tournament.

The Pilots had some close games, but not too many.

On the other side of the story was the host Patriots.

Massac County wasn't undefeated heading into the post-season.

Far from it.

The Patriots had played well but they weren't riding the same kind of wave that the Pilots were on.

Massac County ended the regular season 21-6 and it was against a pretty tough schedule.

The six losses were against great programs.

Lyon County (KY.) bested the Patriots at a shootout, 75-67 in overtime.

Mounds Meridian topped Massac County, 75-73 in the semifinals of the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

Paducah (KY.) Tighlman also beat the Patriots in a semifinal game, 59-53, this time at the Metropolis “Superman Classic” that Massac County continues to host to this day.

They also dropped a close game to West Frankfort, a conference rival, 58-57.

But the other two losses were brutal.

Class AA Murphysboro had its way with Massac, hammering the Patriots at home 83-50 in a game that wasn't even that close (ABV was there).

The rematch on Valentine's Day at Massac wasn't nearly as big of a "massacre" but the result was same; a 76-66 loss.

The Patriots had senior leadership, with 6-foot-2 guard Matt Jacobs carrying much of the offensive load while his teammates up front helped with most of the dirty work.

Gerren Rogers, a 6-foot-8 long armed power forward, helped keep opponents honest in the middle.

Five-foot-eight senior Aaron Bowman was the point guard on the Massac club.

Dominique Petty was another guard for Coach Hosman, a 6-foot-5 senior.

Six-foot-four senior power forward Justin Kindle added the muscle and scoring ability in the lineup.

Senior Bryan Meyer and junior Josh Burman also provided key minutes during the regional championship game along with Dustin Thompson, a 5-foot-11 junior.

The Preparation

Heading into the post-season head coach Joe Hosman, when he realized that Cairo would be coming to his home court for the regional, had a plan.

This coach has always been well prepared as are his team's traditionally.

Year after year they are ready in February and March.

Prior to this contest, Coach Hosman had won 10 regional titles an a sectional championship (2000) since arriving at Massac County in 1986-87.

I happened upon Coach Hosman as I made a visit to the school a couple of weeks after the season was over.

In his office he said “I want to show you something, Jack.”

He opened up a drawer and there were seven VHS tapes that he pointed to.

“I had seven game films of Cairo. We were ready for them.”

In the remaining discussion Coach Hosman emphasized that in the footage that he has watched teams didn't get back on defense against Cairo.

“We emphasized to our players to get back on defense. We weren't going to let them get those easy baskets other teams let them have,” said Hosman.

The Regional

To reach this regional title game, both the Pilots and Patriots had work to do.

Massac County, as a lower seed in the seven-team regional, didn't get a bye in the first round.

The Pats beat Hardin County (102-58) and Vienna (50-28) to reach the final.

Cairo had a bye in the first round and then had zero problems in its semifinal game, downing Crab Orchard 84-54.

So the title game was set but most everyone (fans, coaches, etc) wondered if Coach Hosman's team had much of a chance, even playing at home, to pull the upset?

The Game

The game began and Massac County went to work.

A good start by the Patriots combined with Cairo getting into early foul trouble was the worst case scenario for the Pilots and Coach Baldwin.

Childs was whistled for three early fouls and found himself on the bench just four minutes into the game.

Bell and Jackson both had fouls early.

With the Pilots in trouble, Massac closed the quarter on a 12-0 run to lead 20-11.

“Justin Kindle was our post players and he is our vice principal here at Massac County now. The first shot they (Cairo) took he blocked out his man almost into the bleachers. I knew we had a chance right then. With the intensity he came out with," said Coach Hosman.

Like all good teams, the Pilots regrouped and used their bench strength to get back into the game.

Forcing the tempo up, Cairo got back to within two points with reserve Anthony Duncan leading the way.

The Pilots put pressure on the Patriots and rallied to just a 33-31 deficit at intermission.

Duncan ended up with eight points and five rebounds on the night, helping to make up for Bell (zero) and Jackson (three) having poor nights scoring.

The Pilots managed one tie score at 48-48 when Duncan knocked down a pair of free throws late in the third quarter.

But Petty was fouled shooting a 3-pointer on the next Massac possession.

Petty made two of three from the foul line to give the Patriots back the lead for good.

Jacobs drove to the basket for a score to open the fourth quarter to make it 52-48.

Mackins was one of the few bright spots on the night for Cairo.

He came up big with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Mackins grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter that the freshman turned into points to keep the Pilots within striking distance.

After spending nearly all of the third quarter on the bench after picking up his fourth foul, Childs hit a couple of shots in the fourth quarter and just missed on a 3-pointer with his team trailing 60-57 that would have evened the score.

Forced to foul, Cairo sent Jacobs to the line and the senior responded with 3-of-4 free throws in the final :30.

Cairo had one last chance to tie the game but a rushed 3-point attempt from Lowe was an air-ball that ended the dream season for the Pilots.

As the celebration began after the final horn by Massac County's players and fans, a water bottle thrown by a Cairo fan hit Coach Baldwin in the head, knocking him to the floor unconscious.

The whole scene turned ugly from that moment on, putting a dark cloud over the entire situation.

What should have been a joyous celebration of a hard fought ball game between two great teams turned into an embarrassing moment in the state's high school sports history.

Jacobs led all scorers with 21 points while Kindle and Rogers had 12 and 11 respectively for the Patriots.

Lowe followed Mackins up with 14 points while the high-scoring Childs was held to 10 points as he ended up missing 10 plus minutes with foul trouble.

Two of the heroes for the Patriots that night were Bowman and Kindle.

“We had a little point guard about 5-foot-8 named Aaron Bowman who played the whole game with no turnovers,” said Coach Hosman.

Massac County made the most of its win as they won sectional games over Benton and West Frankfort at Eldorado the following week.

Jacobs continued his big post-season as he nailed a game-winning 3-point shot with :04 left in the sectional championship game, giving the Patriots a 74-73 win (ABV was there).

The Patriots, who had never won a super-sectional, then edged state-ranked Pinckneyville 47-46 to win the Carbondale Class A Super-sectional at SIU Arena.

Although Coach Hosman and crew lost their Friday quarterfinal game to Peoria Christian, the season was a success at 27-7.

“We beat a state ranked Pinckneyville team and Matt (Jacobs) hit a last second shot to beat West Frankfort to win the sectional,” said Coach Hosman. “You have to be good but you also have to have some luck and we had both.”

A Different Perspective

Many different people over the years have been interviewed about this game so I thought about getting a different take on this contest from someone who was really close to the action.

Basketball official Brad Beaty of Mt. Vernon was one of the officials working that regional championship game.

This was his sixth regional championship game in his seventeenth season as a varsity official.

He, along with Don Fodor of Carrier Mills and John Downey of Benton, were the referees assigned to the regional championship game at Massac County.

Beaty was a veteran at this point, as were Fodor and Downey.

Beaty ended up pursuing a coaching career and is currently the head boy's basketball coach at Webber Township.

This coach led the Trojans to a regional championship game in 2017 (an overtime loss) and the next season to a regional championship victory (2018).

He might be the only person to ever officiate a regional title game and also coach a team to a regional title.

“Cairo got into foul trouble and most of the fouls were caused by them 'going over the back' on rebounds,” said Beaty. “You could tell Coach Hosman had his kids ready to block out on rebounds. The further along the game got Cairo kept getting tighter and tighter. Out of all the regional championship games I officiated this game was the most fun. Both teams and both coaches were well behaved. If I were a fan in the stands, this would be the one I would want to see. It was a game that was played above the rim by two athletic teams. It was a shame about everything that happened afterwards because it was a great ballgame.”

The Aftermath

Four people, including Coach Baldwin, were taken to a local hospital with injuries after the game but were later released.

There were 10 police officers at the game and members of six law enforcement agencies and five ambulances in the area were called in to help restore order and tend to the injured.

There were strict penalties handed down by the Illinois High School Association after the contest.

The Pilots' basketball program was put on probation for the 2004-05 school year and were not allowed to participate in the state tournament.

They were also required to make restitution to Massac County High School for damage to the visiting team's lockerroom ($1,225.00).

Moving forward the Cairo program had some struggles.

But they won a regional championship, upsetting both Herrin and Mounds Meridian to win the Class A Regional at Meridian in 2007.

But with a lot of schools their size they got some relief in boy's basketball when the state moved to a four-class setup in 2007-08.

Since then, the Pilots have notched four regional titles (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019) and made it to two sectional finals in that run.

They have a program run by Coach Larry Wood who has had success at the program in recent years.

Massac County also added to their success with another postseason run to Peoria (2009).

“The game could have gone either way. Coach Baldwin is a great basketball coach and he had tremendous success at Cairo. They (Cairo) gave everyone trouble but we had enough size that we could keep them off of the boards. We knew we had to do that,” said Coach Hosman. “We knew we had to handle their press and not let them get easy baskets on transition. The kids did a tremendous job of that.”

1A Massac County Regional Championship	1	2	3	4	-	F
Cairo (31-1)	11	20	17	13	-	61
Massac County (24-6)	20	13	17	14	-	64

Cairo (61) – Jackson 3, Lowe 14, Childs 13, G. Williams 2, Mackins 17, Duncan 8, Brown 2, B. Johnson 2.
2FG-21-60, 3FG-5-20, FT-14-23, PF-24.
Massac County (64) – Petty 8, Kindle 12, Rogers 11, Jacobs 21, Bowman 5, Meyer 4, Burnham 3.
2FG-23-56, 3FG-2-11, FT-16-25, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Bell, Childs - Cairo.
Technical Fouls – None.