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Oftentimes when I drive through Hayfield, I am reminded of “Hoosiers,” which is one of my favorite movies.

There are fields acting as the backdrop to the school that run on for what seems like an eternity, hoops litter driveways throughout the city and beyond and the Kramer family has their famous “basketball barn” which allows players to work on their game year round.

After reading Les Evjen’s recently released book “The Last Minute: A Viking Miracle,” I have discovered that Hayfield in the late 1960s was not that different from Hickory High, the school at the center of “Hoosiers.”

The 1967-1968 Hayfield boys basketball team shocked the state of Minnesota when the Vikings defeated Austin 70-67 in overtime and topped Owatonna 75-70 in double overtime before falling to Edina 63-49 in the state tournament. In an era where only eight out of 488 total teams were allowed to play in the state tournament, the Vikings finished 26-2 and took sixth in the state tournament.

In those days, there were about 22,000 boys playing basketball throughout Minnesota and smaller communities like Rose Creek and West Concord still had their own teams. It was a dream for kids in those small towns to make it to Williams Arena and play with the big boys, but that dream was very hard to achieve as those small town teams had to get through the bigger towns just to get to state.

In 1968, the Hayfield boys not only turned that dream into a reality, they defied the odds with relentless pressure. On their way to state, the Vikings trailed Austin, which was a powerhouse in the 60s, by 10 points with 1:58 left and they trailed Owatonna by four points late, only to come back and win both games.

Hayfield was able to best the Packers by calling a fake timeout on defense when down by two with 18 seconds left, resulting in an Austin turnover that flipped the momentum to the Vikings, who tied the game on a score by Bill Gross.

Gross was a throwback big man who had a capable hook shot from 15 feet out, according to Evjen’s book, and he certainly didn’t stand out on the three-point line, which didn’t even exist in 68. Gross also had plenty of help from the other tough four Vikings starters, that featured a lot of talent and a lot of character. All five players were on the honor roll.

The game, and life, was a little bit different in the 60s and Evjen does a great job of describing moments like Austin player Gary Morgan losing a push-up contest to his math teacher, Austin head coach Oscar Haddorf disappearing overnight after Austin’s loss to Hayfield before returning home in desheviled fashion, and the fact that the Austin-Hayfield battle was played in Albert Lea’s junior high gym, which held 2,800 people.

These games were played in a time when high school basketball drew a following from the entire community and fans lived and died with each bounce of the ball. For those who grew up in that time, it probably isn’t hard to remember the shouts of the cheerleaders and the roar of the community when victory was achieved.

In Hayfield, the 1968 team will live on and its work ethic will impact Vikings for generations to come.

Doug Matti served as an assistant coach on that Hayfield team and his grandson Isaac Matti was a starting guard as a freshman on last year’s Hayfield team that lost in the Section 1A title game.

If Isaac and the current Vikings work as hard as their predecessors, we could see another Viking Miracle in the next few years.