Coach Mulhern's roster additions turned out fortuitous for the Chieftains in the State Championship game the following night. However, even that event was not without unusual spectacle from the now infamous suspended Chieftain varsity players. Earlier in the day WIAA officials handed out further consequences to the partying athletes by banning them from the UW Fieldhouse for the remainder of the tournament, in essence, from the Chieftain's Championship game. The determined and resourceful Chieftains, however, were not willing to be denied witness to the event that had been the very center of their collective goals since the fourth grade when Jeff Miske and Van coined the phrase, "To State in '78" on the north playground of the school. So, they enlisted the help of two willing accomplises from a rival school. An associate of Rogness', one Tracy Hulberg and her friend, one Kari Baumgarten, both students at Eleva-Strum Central High School, recruited several of their classmates' good-will ...and letterman's jackets. The Cardinals who offered their jackets to the Chieftains were: Daryl Sather, John "Moose" Anderson, cousin of Laura...(a moment of silence, please...now another moment of silence...), Randy Klopp (a regular do-er of favors for the Chieftains), Tim Olsen, Tom Nelson, Kerry Svoma, and also Eleva-Strum's MVP and athlete of the year, Gabe Jensen.

The Suspended Eight now had disguises which to wear to gain access to the Fieldhouse for the game and hid inconspicuously in the top tier of the auditorium. Unfortunately for most of them, they would not remain anonymous. First to be ejected by UW-Madison security was Van who was asked by Rogness to hold a carton of eggs while Rogness hurled several towards the basketball court. In true Rogness-fashion, all three eggs hit their intended targets, with both referees and the opposing coach getting hit directly in the faces by his uncanny accuracy. Brief confusion followed. Moments later, when security had peiced together what had happened, Rogness was nowhere to be seen and Van, still holding the carton was nabbed and ejected from the building.

Early in the second quarter, the unflappable Skoyen, still hung over from the previous night's sctivities, once again jumped out of his clothes and this time ran out onto the basketball court wearing nothing except a professional-wrestling mask. He stood at center court taunting the opposing team and the egg-faced coach. Parents hid their kids. Skoyen was arrested again by Madison Police and was returned to his cell.

That was not all. On the court, the rag-tag Chieftains had a struggle on their hands. Trailing 32-31 at half, the third quarter turned out to be a wild one...and not all by the boys in uniform. When Chieftain Dale Polinske found himself at the free-throw line, suspended players Colby and Mulhern inexplicably raced onto the court and, coming up from behind Polinske, dropped his pants to the floor. The crowd roared in hilarity as security chased down the offenders and escorted them from the building.

Later, ex-teammates Kurth and Kindschy were found by security to be hiding underneath the beer-serving counter having spliced into the tap-lines of the half-barrels. Furthermore, Solie was arrested by Madison Police for running onto the court and pummelling the opposing team's center.

As for the game itself, Little Red and Van Tassel ran the backcourt while Seymour, Polinske and Ken Anderson mixed it up inside. In response to the antics of Solie, eighteen grown men, fans from the opposing team, rushed the court and proceeded to assault Chieftain players. Ten of them made the very bad mistake of attacking Ken Anderson. In a fit of retributitive wrath, Anderson countered their assault and knocked out all ten assailants. When he was finished with them, he put five others in the hospital. Anderson also was removed from the stadium.

Acting quickly, Chieftain coach Mulhern responded by running into the stands and asking Jeff Miske to join the team. Miske accepted the challenge.

As the game entered the fourth quarter, the Chieftains again trailed, 57-51, though the lead had see-sawed back and forth the entire second half. Fighting furiously, the Chiefs had cut the defeceit to within one with under ten seconds to go. After an O-F timeout, Little Red worked the ball into Seymour. With four seconds remaining, the taller Larson, wearing the obligatory #33, swung to the left low post and executed a perfect left-handed sky-hook. Rumors insist that as he released the ball, he was heard to utter the words, "Kareem. Abdul. Jabbar." The buzzer rang as the ball cleared the bottom of the net and the Chieftains claimed their second State Championship in four months.

Osseo-Fairchild fans went nuts. The dreams of the Osseo-Fairchild Chieftain class of 1978 had finally become a reality.

(This website, owned and operated by the Later78er Organization, publically attests to the veracity of these statements as fact. In other words, it really happened this way.)