It's taken 37 years, but Frazier High School has finally atoned for breaking the hearts of Knoch basketball fans.

The Knights (17-9) will compete in the PIAA Class AAA tournament next weekend, courtesy of Hampton's recent victory over Blackhawk in the WPIAL semifinal round.

Knoch qualified for the state tourney because Hampton — which defeated the Knights 48-46 in the quarterfinals — reached the WPIAL finals.

Hampton is coached by Joe Lafko, a Frazier graduate.

It was Frazier that upset the 1969 unbeaten Knoch team — the squad favored to win the WPIAL Class B championship — in the semifinals that year.

"There's some irony there," said Tom Ritchey, who averaged 21 points per game for the Knights in 1969. "They broke our hearts that year.

"Back then, you lose in the playoffs and you were done. There were no second chances."

Knoch has a second chance this year, courtesy of a Frazier graduate. And Knights coach Les Shoop has another chance to record his 300th career win at Knoch. He is sitting on 299 and is retiring when this season is over.

"Our locker room was filled with tears after that loss," 1969 Knoch sixth-man Carter Tackett recalled. "Everybody was crying. It was a long bus ride home.

"After a week, everyone had gotten over it. Life's too short to dwell on something like that."

Knoch took a 23-0 record into the Class B semifinal against 19-3 Frazier. The Knights had a big team as 6-foot-6 forward Fred Rothen averaged more than 20 points per game. Ritchey stood 6-3 while fellow starters Jay Griffin and Joe Crush were both 6-2.

The point guard was Jim Painter. The coach was Ray Ondako, who later took three of his Knoch players with him when he went on to coach at Westminster College.

"We were a powerful defensive team," Ritchey said. "Coach Ondako was big on defense. We allowed 30 to 35 points per game, that was all. The next closest team in the WPIAL allowed 15 points more than that."

None of Frazier's starters was taller than 5-11. Only one player on its roster — Tim Sajna — was as tall as 6-2.

"They were scrappy, real smart and real quick," Ritchey recalled. "They took us out of our game. We had to freelance in the second half just to get back in it."

Knoch trailed 26-15 at halftime before pulling within 36-33 early in the fourth quarter. The Knights dropped a 47-41 decision.

Knoch had 23 turnovers to Frazier's eight.

The anticipated Class B title game match-up that year was Knoch vs. Braddock. Braddock's star player that season was Billy Knight, who went on to a stellar career at the University of Pittsburgh and in the NBA.

"Everyone was looking forward to a Knight-Rothen showdown," Ritchey said.

Rothen became the first Knoch basketball player to score 1,000 points in a career that season.

"We might have gotten caught looking ahead a little bit," Tackett admitted. "It was one of life's lessons learned for us. Never take anything for granted.

"We were better than Frazier. We should have beaten Frazier. But they scouted us well, took us out of our game and beat us."

Frazier went all the way to the state championship game, where it lost to Mansfield and 6-10 standout Tom McMillen, who went on to star at the University of Maryland, play in the NBA and become a United States senator.

"I remember how much that loss hurt," Tackett said. "We never lost before and didn't think we could lose. We were one heartbeat away from the big dance."

Tackett, now living in Gibsonia, is an acquaintance of Hampton coach Lafko. He is good friends with Jim Mall, father of current Talbots player Ben Mall.

Tackett has been to a couple of Hampton games this season.

"Coach Lafko runs a disciplined program," he said. "I'd be proud to have a son playing for him."

Tackett referred to Lafko being a Frazier graduate as "an interesting connection."

Ritchey agreed.

"We were such a close-knit team," Ritchey said. "We didn't have many close games. Then, suddenly, it was over.

"I hope Coach Shoop gets his 300th (win). We wish him well … It would have been nice to have gotten a second chance."