BINGHAMTON — Something has changed within the halls of Franklinville Central School over the past few years. Boys basketball coach Jeff Haskell has noticed it. His team has reaped the benefit of it in the biggest of ways.
“We’ve been a little bit more successful recently in sports,” Haskell said. “It’s become more of a mindset of we can be champions, that Franklinville is there and that we do belong in the company of the teams that are making it.”
It was just five years ago that Franklinville failed to post a winning season in any of its seven team sports. Since then, the school has had three squads win Section 6 championships while others have come close.
The newfound confident mentality is the reason, Haskell believes, the Panthers weren’t bogged down by the basketball program’s lack of recent success. Before it could reach the state final four for the first time in 39 years, Franklinville had to end a quarter-century sectional title drought. The players believed they could overcome history.
“These guys have changed the atmosphere in our sports,” said Haskell, who has coached the team nine years over two stints.
Football success has played a role. Three years ago, Franklinville and Ellicottville merged their football programs. The result has been three trips to the Section 6 finals at New Era Field, one title and a different attitude.
“When you’re in big games, the next big game isn’t so big anymore,” said Mark Blecha, Franklinville’s athletic director and an assistant football coach. His son, Brock, starts on the basketball team and quarterbacks the football squad.
“These kids have been together for a lot of years. I think at this point, they believe they can do anything.”
Blecha recalled conversations with Terry Dolan, the principal who hired him in 2000. In fact, Dolan was the coach of the 1978 final four basketball team.
“I remember him talking about football sets the tone for the whole school,” Blecha said. “It’s the beginning of the school year, it sets the tone for the rest of the teams. Just the kids in the hallway — when your teams are winning, even the non-athletic kids walk around with a sense of pride in the school. I think that does a lot.”
Girls sports have contributed, too, with Haskell’s daughters, Ally and Dani, at the heart of the recent success. Last spring, the softball team won its first Section 6 championship since 1991 after losing in the finals the two seasons prior. Girls basketball has played in the title game the past two years, losing to final four-bound Panama both times.
As for boys hoops, added motivation for this season’s run came from a 72-62 loss to Ellicottville in last year’s Section 6 Class D semifinals at Jamestown Community College.
“That just crushed us,” said junior forward Sam Erickson, the team’s leading scorer. “But we came in a week later and we said, ‘Next year we’re gonna win a sectional title,’ and Coach has just been rounding us up this whole year.”
This winter, Franklinville lost its first matchup with Ellicottville, its football friend and basketball battle partner. But the Panthers beat the Eagles twice thereafter, including the all-important sectional semifinal contest.
Franklinville and Ellicottville will both bring back their entire starting lineups next season, so more showdowns await. For the Panthers, though, the time to think about next season will come after this weekend. Right now, they’re ready to play for a championship.
“I truly believe they know they belong,” Haskell said.
(Shawn Campbell, a Times Herald sports writer, can be reached at scampbell@oleantimesherald.com)
