CRYSTAL FALLS — The Crystal Falls Forest Park boys basketball team appears to be on a mission as it progresses through the postseason.

Forest Park is fresh from earning its third-consecutive Division 4 District basketball title with a 73-38 defeat of Norway on Friday in Crystal Falls.

The Trojans (19-4) resume at 5 p.m. (CST) tonight when they face Felch North Dickinson in a Regional Semifinal at Kingsford.

“(North Dickinson has) a real good team,” Forest Park coach Jason Price said. “Nothing’s easy in the tournaments.”

The teams split during the regular season with North Dickinson taking a 57-55 decision at Crystal Falls on Jan. 20 and the Trojans rolling past the Nordics 77-39 on at North Dickinson on Feb. 2.

Junior Vic Guiliani, an all-state selection last winter who missed his junior football season due to a torn meniscus, returned to the Trojans’ basketball lineup shortly after the holidays.

“It feels real good to be back,” he said. “It took a lot of work to get back. It took a couple games to get back into the flow.

It also feels good to get three (District titles) in a row. We feel very lucky. Not every team can do that.”

The Trojans opened their postseason journey with an 80-38 triumph at Powers North Central last Wednesday, scoring four players in double digits in each District game.

A year ago, they reached the Division 4 Semifinals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center, where they fell to eventual champion Wyoming Tri-unity Christian 67-46.

In 2024, Forest Park bowed to St. Ignace 68-51 in a Quarterfinal contest at Gladstone.

This year’s Trojans, with no seniors in the lineup, was led by junior Dax Huuki’s 23 points in Friday’s District Final.

They are wearing T-shirts which have “1920” printed below their team logo.

“That’s on there because that’s the number of seconds there are in a basketball game,” Huuki said. “That’s the type of effort we need all the time.

“This feels good. We worked hard for this all season. Coach told us to settle down and play our game.”

Forest Park turned the ball over just five times in Wednesday’s District opener and committed 10 turnovers in Friday’s championship contest. The Trojans know they’ll need to continue taking care of the ball tonight.

“They have three big guys,” Guiliani said. “They played in the state football finals last fall. They have some real good athletes. We’re playing unselfish basketball. I think we’re the most dangerous when we’re in a fast-paced game and hitting shots. We can also slow it down.”

Norway attempted to slow the pace early in Friday’s contest. The Trojans, however, led 36-20 at halftime and picked it up even more in the second half.

Huuki also has plenty of respect for the Nordics.

“They work as hard in the summer as we do,” he said. “The first game with them was hard. We just tried to learn from that. We have to play the way we know we can. We grew up together and know each other and how we play. Communication is so important.”

Tonight’s winner advances to Thursday’s Regional Final at Negaunee to face the winner of today’s Wakefield-Marenisco/Dollar Bay contest.

“These juniors have played together their whole lives,” Price said. “These are hard-working kids. They put the time in during the offseason. We settled in and played very unselfish again (Friday). We’re defending very well.”

John Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

PHOTOS (Top) Crystal Falls Forest Park's Vic Giuliani makes a move to get around Marquette's Halen McCollum and take a shot during a loss to the Sentinels on Feb. 17 at Northern Michigan University. (Middle) Trojans coach Jason Price talks to his team between the third and fourth quarters against Marquette. (Below) Forest Park's Dax Huuki goes up for two against Marquette's Carter Fierstine at the Vandament Arena. (Photos by Cara Kamps.)