Just call them champions!!!!

Joe Williamson had only spent about four games coaching members of the Corvallis High girls basketball team when he knew he had something special.

Those games in the summer league season made Williamson, who had just made the move from Lebanon to Corvallis, believe what most people thought was the unthinkable.

He told his players he thought they could win a league title.

Haha.

Or at least that’s what some of the players and most everyone else around the state were probably thinking at the time.

The Spartans had just come off a 9-16 season, including a 4-10 mark in the Mid-Willamette Conference. That included struggles against a winless Woodburn team, and road losses to South Albany and Dallas, teams that also finished 4-10.

But Williamson saw beyond the record. He saw what the players had going for them.

He saw talent and athleticism. And he also saw character.

“I know they thought I was full of it,” Williamson said Thursday night, thinking back to those summer days.

Williamson obviously knew what he was talking about.

Thanks to a 10-for-10 performance from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, Williamson’s players made his statement ring oh so true Thursday night.

The Spartans battled Williamson’s former team, Lebanon, throughout and in the end came away with a hard-fought 55-46 victory that wrapped up a MWC title.

Sure the Spartans shared the crown with West Albany and Silverton, but the Spartans got the all-important first seed, thanks to some good luck wished on by CHS athletic director Bob Holt when the school principals drew for seeding earlier Thursday.

Oh, and maybe just a little prayer.

“I prayed a lot,” Williamson told his team in a jubilant locker room after the win. “I prayed to the good Lord above and I prayed to my dad who’s up there with him.

“I said, ‘I’m going to ask for something selfish.’ Once in a while it’s OK. I know that it’s not like this is a priority in life, but selfishly I thought we deserved it and that we deserved it over everybody else, and wow, the suspense.”

Even after the Spartans held on for the win, they still didn’t know what seed they would receive. Holt had kept it from just about everyone until the closing seconds.

He had CHS principal Suzanne Dalton make the announcement to the team and the fans.

That announcement set off a celebration that had the team cheering at center court and all the way into the locker room.

It had former junior varsity coach Rob Hill, who made the seven-hour trip to watch the game, choke up as he addressed the team.

“I know where you’ve been and I know where you’re going and it’s good stuff,” he said, holding back the tears.

“You are a classy bunch of people. It’s great to see how confident and grown up you have become in one season.

“It was so worth the seven-hour drive to come see you play.”

It was anything but easy on Thursday and down the stretch of the regular season.

The Spartans had suffered two tough road losses to West Albany and Silverton in the last four games, and even with a win they needed a little luck to get the No. 1 seed.

And they ran into a Lebanon team that was still smarting from a 62-21 thumping by the Spartans earlier.

Oh, and the Warriors needed to win to earn a playoff berth.

Throw in a fire alarm that went off with 4:50 left in the third quarter and the Spartans starting to pull away, and you had the makings for a heart-pounding last quarter and a half.

That’s exactly what everyone in the gym got.

But even as Lebanon chipped away, the Spartans executed, hit free throws and earned the right to call themselves conference champions.

It was tough for Williamson to put into words what he was feeling.

“I’m speechless to tell you the truth,” he said. “I’m relieved, excited, proud.

There were many thoughts running through junior McKenzie Redberg’s mind. Redberg is no stranger to conference titles and playoff games as a member of the Spartans soccer team.

But this was different.

“No one believed in us except for ourselves,” she said. “We went out and proved to everybody that we are for real and that we can win a league championship and we did.

“I think we silenced the critics and we are going to state now and we will show everyone we can compete.”

Williamson said it was what he saw early in the summer that helped the Spartans pull through, and that the seeding draw was appropriate.

“You know what I think that’s why I think we deserved the No. 1 seed because of the character and talent that they showed all year,” he said.

Redberg, who led the Spartans with 16 points, and Gabe Johnson, who added 15, combined to hit all 10 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter to help the Spartans pull away.

“We just stayed focused and relaxed,” Redberg said. “We knew coming in we could win. If we just do what we know we’re supposed to do, we got it.

“So as long as we don’t freak out, we’ve got it under control. We kept our heads, even with the fire alarm going off, we kept our heads and did it.”

And they got some major minutes out of junior post Karly Laney, who was pressed into extended action with foul trouble plaguing starters Kayla Laney and Alaina Adams.

Both eventually fouled out, but Karly Laney played solid defense and added seven points to aid the cause.

“It was different because usually I’m not in as long,” she said. “I get good minutes but I don’t get as long as Kayla and Alaina who are really good players.

“It was just different but it was a great feeling.”

Katie Schrock added eight points off the bench as the Spartans earned the right to call themselves champions.

When the clock finally wound down, the players began to realize their accomplishment. Then the thoughts turned to which seed they would get.

“When I saw (Dalton) come out I saw she had a big smile and I knew we were the first seed,” Karly Laney said. “We get to be home and hopefully go to state and I’m excited.”

Corvallis 55, Lebanon 46
LEBANON 9 14 12 11 — 46
CORVALLIS 8 18 12 17 — 55
Lebanon: Alexis Nissen 16, Kuhns 9, Ragsdale 6, Kirby 5, Duerr 4, Zehner 4, Adams 2, Ellis, Lutton, Brantner
Corvallis: McKenzie Redberg 16, Johnson 15, Schrock 8, Kar, Laney 7, Kay. Laney 4, Adams 2, Westly 2, Gerner 1, Seitz
JV: Corvallis 49, Lebanon 33
Frosh: Lebanon 53, Corvallis 46