Old is vintage at Marshfield High School

Marshfield’s basketball team faced its ghosts Saturday night.

Athletic director Greg Mulkey must have cruised the rafters at the Pirate Palace, clattering pans to roust out the spirits of Marshfield’s hoops history. Whatever the method, Mulkey managed to assemble a team comprising some of the finest players in school history to face Marshfield’s varsity basketball team in an exhibition last weekend.

But despite all their well-documented past glory, two questions loomed large heading into the contest. Do they still have the legs? And do they still got game?

The proof was in the prunes, a 62-51 triumph by the old guys.

Maybe it’s not fair to insinuate they’re geezers, but a few of them have been away from the tempo of high school basketball — as players, anyway — for quite a while. The oldest player on the team — Sam Scott, a former Midwestern League MVP — graduated in 1978. Another MVP, Bryan Trendell, walked in 1981. A third, Jeff Messerle, bid a fond farewell to the purple and gold in 1993. At least that’s what he thought at the time.

“It was like the glory days again,” Messerle said. “It was just fun to see all the old faces that you know. I’m out of shape. The first 10 minutes is good, then after that it’s just rubber. You always feel younger than you are.”

Many of the other players still are feeling young, mainly because, well, they are. Matt Erickson, a 2005 graduate, scored a game-high 15 points. He still has his wind and he still has the fortitude in his legs to go the distance. Most of all he — like the rest of his team — still has the competitive drive to keep his motor revving for a full 32 minutes.

“It was awesome,” he said. “It was really cool because I never thought I’d get a chance to suit up in a Pirate uniform again. I thought if they won it’d be because they were in shape. We were lucky we got some 3-balls to get back ahead.”

The alumni at many times overcame the whippersnappers’ energy with the long ball. Messerle, Casey McCord (Class of 2003) and Jesse Ainsworth (1997) drained two 3s a piece on the night.

Some shots didn’t fall as readily as they would have a few years ago. But it’s tough to keep a hot hand after years on ice. Even so, the alumni showed their experience and poise throughout the contest, epitomized when Messerle and Ainsworth canned back-to-back 3-pointers to give the alumni their largest lead, 42-22 with 4:19 remaining in the third quarter.

And the alumni were more than happy to dazzle the crowd on a few occasions, with an at-times glitzy offense that included slick, no-look passes yielding easy buckets. The beauty of the game was evident in their play, although the alumni committed their share of no-look turnovers as well.

It’s impossible to shake off years of rust in just one game.

The graduates showed they can still play a little defense, too, with several thefts, many leading to easy transition buckets.

The two teams played a similar style and tempo of basketball even though the physical differences sometimes were glaring. The high-schoolers were slim and trim, while many of their graduated counterparts were armed with the, shall we say, strength and maturity of full-grown men?

But still readily recognizable were many of the same faces Marshfield’s faithful have remembered with smiles and warmth over the years.

It was a chance not only for the players, but for the audience, to relive the glory days, as Messerle put it.

And even just for one magical evening, the grownups got to go back to being kids again.