Holiday notebook: Blue Devils head into new year undefeated for first time since 1991-92 season

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — The fifth Collinsville Prairie Farms Holiday Classic championship the Quincy High School boys basketball team won has some striking similarities to one of the previous four.

In 1991, the Blue Devils waltzed to the title, beating four opponents by an average of 15.5 points and hammering Jacksonville 55-40 in the championship game. That four-game run included a 13-point victory over O’Fallon in the second round.

This year, the Blue Devils again waltzed to the title, beating four opponents by an average of 19.3 points and hammering The Woodlands Christian Academy 68-47 in Sunday night’s championship game. That four-game run included a 23-point victory over O’Fallon in the second round.

This is also the first time since 1991 the Blue Devils will head into the new year undefeated.

The 1991-92 team was 13-0 after Christmas, ran its win streak to 19 games and finished with a 26-2 record. This group is 13-0.

“That’s crazy,” Quincy coach Andy Douglas said when he learned how similar the circumstances between the teams are despite being 33 years apart.

As for that 1991-92 team, it was led by all-state senior forward Tom Lepper, who went on to serve as an assistant coach with the Blue Devils for 25 years and was inducted into the Quincy Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame this year.

Lepper passed away in November following a battle with brain cancer. His initials are stitched on every QHS jersey, and the coaching staff wore hoodies during Sunday’s game with the “TL54” logo on the front. Every game the Blue Devils play, they say it’s for Lepp.

“This title is for Lepp,” Douglas said. “All the times we sat in the hotel room and prepped for games like this, man, he always wanted this one bad. I know he’s looking down on us tonight.”

As the players learned of how similar their path has been to that of the 1991-92, they became convinced they were destined to win this title.

“It’s meant to be,” senior point guard Kamren Wires said. “It’s definitely meant to be.”

Said senior forward Keshaun Thomas said, “We’re doing this for Lepp all year long. Knowing that just makes this all the more special.”

Longcor part of exclusive company

Quincy senior guard Bradley Longcor III joined extremely exclusive company Sunday night when he was named to the all-tournament team.

It was the fourth time in his career the 6-foot-3 Longcor received all-tournament honors, making him just the second player in the tournament’s 40-year history to four-peat. Belleville Althoff’s Jordan Goodwin was named to the all-tournament from 2013-16, earning MVP honors in 2015 when the Crusaders won the championship.

Longcor never won an MVP award, but he led the Blue Devils to four top-four finishes and three championship game appearances. The Blue Devils went 12-4 in the tournament in his four years. This year, Longcor averaged 14.5 points and 5.3 assists, while going 11 of 11 from the free-throw line.

Schedule to get more challenging

The next three weeks will prepare the Blue Devils for the level of competition they can expect to see throughout the postseason.

The stretch begins Saturday at the Highland Shootout when Quincy, currently ranked second in Illinois Class 4A, squares off with St. Louis Vashon, ranked first in Missouri Class 4. A trip to Moline, where this senior class has never won, on Jan. 14 is part of a monumental week in the Western Big 6 Conference as Rock Island comes to Blue Devil Gym on Jan. 17. Tradition-rich Lincoln comes to Quincy the next night.

The stretch ends with a Jan. 25 matchup against Bishop O’Connell of Arlington, Va., in the marquee game of the Quincy Shootout.

February includes a trip to state-ranked Webster Groves and a shootout matchup with St. Louis Chaminade, currently the No. 2 team in Class 6 in Missouri.