The fans from Firelands High School will have a chance to walk down memory lane Friday night when the 1980 Falcons’ team will be honored during the game against cross-town rival Vermilion.

Former players and coaches from the 1980 squad will be in attendance to celebrate the 30-year anniversary.

For those of you who don’t remember that squad, here is a brief recap of what the team accomplished.

In 1980, the Falcons were one of the most dominate teams ever in Lorain County.

Led by hall of fame head coach Keith Sooy and Division AA Player of the Year Bill Szabo, the Falcons went 20-0 in the regular season and won the Inland Conference for the eighth time, and were ranked third in the state.

They ran their consecutive win total to 24 and won a district championship before losing to Napoleon in the AA Regional semifinal.

The Falcons averaged 80.6 points a game and shot 51 percent from the field. Defensively they were also impressive as they allowed just 53.3 points a game.

The starting lineup consisted of Szabo, seniors David and Danny Muschitz, and sophomores Doug Carrico and Ralph Foor.

The 6-foot-5 Szabo averaged 32 points and 16 rebounds and shot 58 percent from the field. Danny Muschitz, a 6-1 guard, averaged 16 points and led the team with 116 assists. Foor, a 5-8 point guard, ran the high-powered Falcon offense and was second on the team with 103 points, and shot 60 percent from the floor and 90 percent from the free throw line. Carrico, a 6-3 center, led the Inland Conference in field goal percentage (62 percent) and averaged 12 points and 10 rebounds. David Muschitz was the team’s best individual defender, who locked up the opposing team’s best player every night.

Coming off the bench for the team was senior Jim Nida, junior Brian Jackson and sophomore Joe Matus. The assistant coaches were Jerry Fischer and Scott Northheim.

In 2003, Sooy was inducted into the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. Sooy coached 11 seasons at Firelands and had a 189-44 record, and in his 26 years of coaching Sooy finished with a 423-145 record (.750 winning percentage). During his career Sooy coached at Midview, Firelands, Elyria and Medina.

Everywhere he coached he had success, but Sooy said the 1980 team has a special place in his heart.

“It was a very memorable time for me,” Sooy said. “Out of all the coaching stops I had, I probably made my most lasting friendships with that team.

“To go 20-0 in the regular season and to do what we did that year was pretty special.”

Sooy said the key to that team was that everyone knew their roles. He also said the guys were very close with one another, which made his job a lot easier.

“Those guys bought into my system and they really ran with it,” Sooy said. “I think we were so good because every guy, from the starters to the last guy on the bench, was a good player.

“It was very satisfying and rewarding to watch those guys play every night. We were like a fine-tune machine.”

Szabo, who is seventh on the career scoring list in Ohio with 2,567 points, said the 1980 team was so good because they worked at it. Szabo said after the team went 18-2 in 1979 and was eliminated early in the tournament they were determined not to have another let down the following season.

“Two days after we lost in the '79 tournament we started practicing, I mean we practiced all the time,” Szabo said. “During the summer our guys would pile in Jim’s car and we traveled all over looking for games. We drove to Lorain a lot to play at the parks and we held our own.

“Once the season started we expected to win all those games. We had good athletes, who had good heads on their shoulders and we really played well together.”

Between the 1976-80 seasons Szabo led Firelands to a 73-14 record. He had many memorable games, but none more memorable than the AA district semifinal game against Elyria Catholic. Szabo scored a game-high 43 points but the hero of the game Dan Muschitz, who banked in a half-court shot at the buzzer to give the Falcons a 83-81 victory.

“That was probably the highlight of the season,” Szabo said. “Elyria Catholic had a really good team that year and a lot of people thought they were going to beat us.”

Carrico, who was half of the “Super Sophomores” along with Foor, said the Elyria Catholic game also stood out for him.

“We were down by two with three seconds to go and I was fouled and had to make two free throws,” Carrico said.

“I made them both, then we forced them to turn the ball over on the inbounds play. We inbounded the ball and Danny turned and banked in the game winner. It was a wild game.”

After beating the Panthers, the Falcons defeated Oberlin 77-72, to win the AA District Championship.

Carrico said he is looking forward to seeing his old teammates and catch up on good times

“I haven’t been back there and I haven’t seen these guys in about 25 years,” Carrico said. “I didn’t really grasp what we did back then, so now it will be great to go back and reminisce.”

The ceremony for the team is scheduled for halftime of the varsity game.