News File Photo Onaway freshman Jager Mix drives past Hillman defenders on the way to the basket during a boys basketball district tournament game in this 2020 photo.

ALPENA — Just over one year ago, the sports world was flipped upside down.

After going through the three month grind of a regular season, along with offseason workouts, everything changed.

March went from being known for its Madness of teams battling to continue their season and competing for titles, to complete sadness as those opportunities were ripped away from them due to global pandemic.

Posen coach Chris Keller remembers the days leading up to the unfortunate decisions that were made.

Keller’s Posen High School boys basketball team entered the postseason riding a 10-game winning streak and blew out Vanderbilt in its district semifinal to advance to a second straight district championship game.

“It was surreal. So much changed. I remember the day before we were supposed to play, I was talking to athletic directors in the morning and was told only parents were going to be allowed at the game, then no spectators at all and it seemed like every hour something was changing. Finally later on in the afternoon, I was told the game was postponed. Heading into practice that evening, we didn’t know our future. I talked to the kids and told them everything I knew about the situation and explained to them that we might not get a chance to play,” Keller said. “I gave them the choice to practice and Eyan Hincka stood up, grabbed a ball and said, we’re practicing. It was probably our best and most intense practice of the year. The next day when the MHSAA made the decision to cancel the rest of the season, it was heartbreaking. The seniors had so many questions and I had no answers. It was really sad.”

The situation was just as heartbreaking for the team Posen was supposed to defend their title against, the Onaway Cardinals.

Despite a 4-16 regular season, the Cardinals rattled off a pair of postseason victories by double digits over Wolverine and Hillman to earn a spot in their first district championship game since they captured a district title during thel 2015-2016 season.

Onaway had everything necessary to pull off a Cinderella run through the postseason, including then up-and-coming freshman Jager Mix.

This year, both the Vikings and Cardinals will look to win their respective semifinal matchups and get an opportunity to square off for a district championship.

Posen (11-3) is the top seed in the district after claiming a North Star League division title with a win over Atlanta last week and the Vikings will await the winner of Hillman and Inland Lakes in a district semifinal matchup.

Onaway (11-3) is hosting the district and will open with Wolverine in a district semifinal matchup.

If both Posen and Onaway are able to advance to Saturday’s district championship matchup, expect a thrilling contest between a pair of teams who have yet to play this year, but have enjoyed successful seasons.

The Oscoda Owls were also set to defend their district title last year before the season was canceled.

This season didn’t begin until February after the first two months of the season were suspended. Teams were forced into a hectic five-week stretch that featured a condensed and busy schedule.

The Owls ran through last year’s regular season and had a 21-1 record entering the district title game, with eyes set on a long tournament run.

The Owls were truly holding out hope that they would get an opportunity to play basketball this season after gaining two area standouts in Drew Hess and Brennon Mills, who transferred from Mio, to join Owen Franklin at Oscoda.

It’s no surprise that the Owls have dominated this season and enter the postseason with a perfect 17-0 record and ranked in Division 3.

Oscoda has all the makings of a team that could make a deep run that ends in a trip to the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

One team that would like to prevent Oscoda from defending its district title and get a shot once again as an underdog is Rogers City.

The Hurons were slated to play Oscoda for a district title last year after a pair of heroic wins, including a buzzer-beating victory in their postseason opener to keep their season alive.

The host Hurons will need to defeat Tawas in a district quarterfinal matchup to advance and get a shot at Oscoda in the semifinal round.

Rogers City started the season slow, but has since been on a roll, winning five its last six games entering the postseason, including wins over Posen and a win over Alpena.

It is common that stars can propel a team come tournament time and the Hurons have a star that could do just that.

Senior Nick Freel has taken that next step and his game is at an all-time best entering the postseason.

Last week Freel scored 35 points in a win against Alpena and a day later, poured in a school record 45 points in a win over Posen, eclipsing 1,000 career points.

“It was disappointing last year, especially for our seniors. We had momentum last year with a pair of big wins including a buzzer beater and we had an opportunity to play Oscoda and that’s all these kids want is to play and for an opportunity to compete,” Rogers City coach Matt Ponik said. “After having that opportunity stripped away from you, it creates a hunger and we’ve kind of felt that over the past few weeks because we’ve been playing well lately. We had a stretch of winning three games in four days over some good teams and all of those games had a playoff atmosphere. Our spirits are high, we’re playing good basketball, playing at a high level and trending in the right direction. We’re just excited to get an opportunity to play again and experience how special basketball in March is.”