Saturday belonged to the Fort Thomas community. 

It honored two teams at Findlay Toyota Center. The first one, Ft. Thomas’ 1995 1A Conference championship team, stood at midcourt, celebrating its 25th anniversary at halftime of the 1A boys title game.

The second team, Ft. Thomas’ 2019-20 squad, was introduced as the program’s newest darling in a long line of champions after it defeated upstart North Valley Christian Academy 62-46.

The 2019-20 Ft. Thomas team looks on as the 1995 Ft. Thomas championship team is honored at halftime of Saturday's 1A title game. Photo by Jose Garcia/azpreps365.com. 

Waylon Preston played on that 1995 team, and his son, Jaden, is on Ft. Thomas’ 2019-20 squad. The two embraced after Jaden helped cut and keep his portion of the basketball net.

Jaden and Waylon Preston. 

On Saturday morning, Preston made a request to his son. When Jaden was in 8th grade, some of the seniors on this season’s championship Ft. Thomas team went undefeated in middle school. Preston still has a photo of those players when they were in 8th grade.

He wanted another picture of the seniors, but this time as high school state champions.

Those seniors, Jaden, Skylar Kindelay, Brad Johnson, Malachi Rogers and Latrell Titla, led the way to their program’s 12th state crown, scoring a combined 43 points.

They didn't want to lose another championship game like they did two years ago.

“It feels great,” said Rogers, the MVP of his region. “I’ve been dreaming of this ever since I was in 8th grade, and we finally got it. My dad won it also (in 2001), and a couple of friends I work out with also won it. I just wanted to bring the gold ball back for them, my family and the community.”

North Valley Christian Academy finished with a 26-5 record and with a state runner-up trophy in its second varsity season. 

North Valley Christian’s Rez ball title game introduction was a tough one.

A combination of missed shots, great defense by its opponent and probably lack of depth — North Valley Christian Academy has a six-man rotation — likely did the team in. But the new kid on the block made a good impression in its second season of varsity ball.

But from the outset, Ft. Thomas just kept running until it lifted the trophy it coveted, the first for the program since 2005, proving it was the No. 1 team this season after finishing with a 29-5 record. Ft. Thomas led 14-5 after the first quarter and 28-15 at halftime, and every time North Valley Christian attempted to rally, Ft. Thomas responded.

“I told my boys we have to get going,” said Ft. Thomas coach Matthew Dona, a Ft. Thomas alum. “We have to run the ball. Keep going. We don’t get tired. Just play Rez ball. We played defense and scoring came second."