FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — For most basketball programs, qualifying for the state playoffs is a reason for celebration.

For most of Paul Brutto’s 28-year coaching career at Marian, making it to states was a reasonable expectation.

The Fillies’ mentor took teams to the state tournament in 17 of his first 23 years in charge, including an incredible run of 14 consecutive seasons between 1994 and 2008.

But entering this season, Marian had gone four straight seasons without qualifying for states, the longest spell of Brutto’s career.

For most programs — where qualifying for the PIAA tournament is a once in a decade occurrence — four years wouldn’t even qualify as a dryspell.

For the Fillies, it’s a Sahara-like drought.

So even though Marian came up short in Thursday’s District 11 Class 2A title game against powerful Mahanoy Area, the Fillies could at least take some solace in the fact that they are heading back to states for the first time since 2014.

“I don’t know if you appreciate how hard it is to get to states when you are enjoying a run like we were all those years,” said Brutto. “But not making it for a few years definitely has made me appreciate what our kids were able to accomplish this season.

“When you’ve been coaching as long as I have and you’re getting older, you start to wonder if you’re going to make it back again. So this is really exciting — not only for me, but for the entire program. It’s exciting to see the brackets, watch the teams fill in, and see where you’re going and who you’re playing. We didn’t want silver tonight, but it’s nice that we still have an opportunity in the Big Dance.”

While the “Big Dance” is something that Brutto is extremely familiar with, that’s not the case for his players.

“No one on our team has ever played in a state playoff game,” said Marian junior point guard Emily Shaud. “So even though tonight’s game didn’t go as we had hoped, there is still a lot of excitement that we have another chance. This isn’t the end of our season.

“There is so much tradition at Marian. As a player, you want to be part of that tradition. That’s what we have the chance to do now in the state playoffs.”

Senior Isabella Schwabe, who scored eight points against the Bears, also talked about the Fillies’ tradition.

“Every day for the last four years, I’ve walked into the gym and looked at all the banners on the walls and all the names on those banners,” Schwabe said. “I want to be part of that. It’s disappointing that we couldn’t get a championship tonight. But we’ve qualified for states, so we have another opportunity to accomplish that.

“We need to work on correcting what we did wrong tonight and continue to improve as a team. There is still a lot of basketball left to play.”

Fellow senior starter Emma McClafferty had mixed emotions after the game.

“Our goal was to win a district championship and we didn’t accomplish that. So that’s obviously disappointing,” McClafferty said. “But we also had set a goal of making it to states this season. For the seniors, this was our final chance. So now we have to put this game behind us and refocus on making the most of the opportunity still ahead of us.

“We’re going to get back in the gym and get better. We’re still excited to be playing basketball.”

Mahanoy Area coach Tom Scheeler is one person who wouldn’t be surprised to see the Fillies make the most of their state playoff opportunity.

“Marian is a very good team,” Scheeler said. “I know our girls are excited about having the opportunity to make some noise in the state tournament, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Marian made a nice run as well. I hope we can both go far.

“Who knows, maybe we’ll get a chance to play them a fourth time down the line.”

Brutto and the Fillies would love the opportunity for another date with the Bears, especially since this one would be at the “Big Dance.”

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