Five minutes before tipoff, Seneca High School’s old gym was buzzing with energy as it once had in its heyday, smelling of barbecue and echoing with Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.”

Donkey basketball returned to Seneca for the first time since the 1990s on Saturday night, drawing a crowd so large that standing room-only spectators surrounded half the court by the time donkeys took the floor.

Four teams competed in a tournament-style event, with games played in two eight-minute halves and not many technical rules, Dairyland Donkey handler and referee Ball Kevin White said.

“This is kind of like street ball,” White said. “There’s no out of bounds, but the main rule that I enforce is that players have to be on their donkey to shoot, pass or steal.”

White has held the position for years, and he says it’s always a fun night while emphasizing that the donkeys don’t get hurt either.

Dairyland Donkeyball has put on the shows for almost 50 years.

Although players shooting the basketball certainly matter, White said the real wild cards often are the donkeys.

“Every donkey has a different personality and it definitely shows when they’re out on the court,” White said with a laugh. “Some don’t let the players get on them, some don’t move much and some just don’t stop moving at all, so you never really know what’s going to happen.”

The night promised Seneca residents laughter with a bit of uncertainty.

In the opening game, teachers from local schools faced members of the Village Church. The church team took a 4-2 lead into halftime, but the teachers tied the game at 4-4 with about 2 minutes remaining.

Village Church members regained the lead in the final minutes to secure a 6-4 victory and advance to the championship game.

The second semifinal featured the Seneca FFA against the Seneca and Mazon fire departments.

The firefighters carried a 4-2 lead into halftime before Seneca FFA tied the game midway through the second half. The teams remained locked at 6-6 at the end of regulation, sending the game to overtime.

Aside from the game being played on donkeys, overtime gave the people what they wanted.

Literally.

The OT rules were decided by the crowd, which chose a dance-off from a member of each team over a free-throw contest while on donkeys.

FFA member and Seneca native Joey Arnold won the dance-off with some impressive throwback moves that included the worm, sending his team to the championship game to play the village church.

As exciting as the next game was, the title game between Seneca FFA and Village Church was a rock fight, as both teams struggled to control their donkeys and went scoreless for most of regulation.

As tensions rose in the final minute, the game was interrupted unexpectedly. One of the donkeys decided to relieve itself at center court.

After sanitation crews did their work to clean up the mess with applause from the crowd, the game remained tied to force a sudden-death overtime. Seneca FFA took home the win in the first minute.

In addition to the games, the night featured a “Chuck a Duck” fundraiser supporting the FFA chapter, where kids would try to throw small rubber ducks at a target in the middle of the court. The night also featured a hog raffle organized by Seneca FFA alumni to benefit scholarships and chapter activities.

Seneca FFA member and lead organizer Cally Hatton said the fundraiser was a success after estimating about 750 people attended.

“We honestly didn’t know what to expect, but this turnout is way bigger than we ever imagined,” Hatton said. “We were hoping for maybe 300 to 400 people, so to see this many here tonight is pretty incredible. It was just amazing to see the community come out like this and we hope we can do it again in the future.”