Hot start propels Woodland past Newark, to first regional championship since 1989

They say well begun is half done.

Going for the program’s first regional championship in 37 years Friday night on its home floor, the Woodland boys basketball team began well in front of a full and frenzied crowd.

Then they got it done.

Woodland scored the night’s initial six points on a pair of Nolan Price 3-pointers off Nate Berry assists, built its advantage to double digits by the close of that quarter and withstood a couple second-half runs to top the Newark Norsemen 57-38 and claim the Class 1A Woodland Regional title.

“This feels great, man” said Berry, who completely took over down the stretch with a flurry of defensive rebounds, blocked shots, steals and seven fourth-quarter points. “We’ve worked all year for it. It’s historic. It just feels amazing.”

Berry finished with a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double, also adding four assists, three steals and two blocked shots. Woodland was led in scoring by Price with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists along with Jaron Follmer with 16 points.

Grant Wissen scored two points off the bench, Noah Decker handed out four assists despite not scoring, and center Brezdyn Simons put in a half dozen points.

“This feels great,” Simons said. “All season long, all the guys put in so much work. We talk about it every day. ‘Find a way,’ that’s been our motto.

“We found a way.”

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The Woodland Warriors raise their freshly won championship plaque in celebration Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, at the Warrior Dome in rural Streator after their 57-38 victory over Newark. (Tom Sistak For Shaw Media)

For the first time since making back-to-back trips in 1988 and 1989, the Warriors (25-9) advance on to sectionals. Woodland will face Somonauk Regional champion Indian Creek (25-6) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 1A Amboy Sectional.

A fast start Friday at the Warrior Dome – Price draining four first-quarter 3s, a pair over the opening 70 seconds of the game and two more off inbounds plays over an eight-second span in the quarter’s waning seconds – went a long way toward the Warriors punching their ticket.

“That’s exactly what we talked about pregame,” Woodland coach Connor Kaminke said of the hot start. “We said, ‘We’re going to walk out of this locker room, and we’re going to see the stands like we’ve never seen them before ... and there is a whole community in those stands that is on the edge of eruption. You’ve just got to give them a reason to.’

“And an opportunity for Nolan Price to show up and show out? That’s all he needs.”

Woodland led 22-8 by quarter’s end, by as many as 18 in the second quarter and 35-23 at halftime.

The Norsemen (17-17) did their best to fight back. Newark cut its once-18-point disadvantage as slim as five points – at 40-35 – in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter just to see the Warriors rattle off an 11-0, Berry-led run to put away their program’s first regional title since the first George Bush was a month into his one-term presidency.

“I saw the scoreboard,” Berry said, “they’d gotten it within [five points], and I knew I had to take over the game. I just flipped the switch mentally.”

Newark’s Reggie Chapman gets past Woodland’s Noah Decker (0) during the third quarter Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, of the Class 1A Woodland Regional championship game in rural Streator. (Tom Sistak For Shaw Media)

Despite coming out on the losing end, Reggie Chapman had one last fantastic performance in a Newark uniform with a game-high 20 points. Dylan Kulbartz (six points), Cody Kulbartz (three points, eight rebounds, four blocked shots) and Kellen Westerfield (three points, five rebounds) also led Newark.

“We’ve been working on [defending Woodland, Nos.] 2 and 11 [Price and Berry] are really good in their offense, the way they flare and slip off things,” Newark coach Kyle Anderson said. “We worked on how we want to guard it. We came out and did not guard it the way we wanted.

“Once we picked it up, we took their rhythm away a little bit, but by that point it’s hard to come back. I’m proud of our guys and how we fought, cutting it to five the way we did and having some chances to push it closer.”

Woodland finished outshooting the Norsemen 46.9% (23 of 49) to 30.4% (14 of 46), outrebounding Newark 32-25 and winning the turnovers forced battle 8-7 – including zero Warriors turnovers over the entirety of the fourth quarter.

“I’m so, so proud of all these guys,” Kaminke said, “and so proud to be the coach of this program.”