Sure, he may have been talking about his Lady Hawks, who rattled off a pair of victories against two state-ranked powers -- the last of which was a rousing weekend finale in front of a full house.

But for Schlabach, the success of the Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend Classic in the Country was far more about his team winning two games.  Yes, that was excellent, but what helped to make the event ideal was the way the whole process made everything fall into place for the entire weekend.

Even before most people were thinking about the event, the wheels were long in motion.

Planning was taking place, as Schlabach's dedicated coaching staff took on added responsibilities.  Behind the scenes operation went unnoticed by the public.  It was details, details, details.

"Rob Moser spent easily more than 400 hours over the past year preparing for this event," said Schlabach.

"Cousy (David Borter) did anything and everything that was asked of him.  My whole staff, Colin Mishler, everyone did a great job of pulling together to get things done."

Then there were those loud, orange shirts.

They were everywhere you turned.

In the stands, at the gate, ushering teams to and from the school's cafeteria to the Perry Reese gymnasium.  You couldn't escape those orange shirts.  Which was just fine with Schlabach.

The orange shirt gang was comprised of more than 200 area volunteers, who did everything from help teams find where they needed to be next, to ushering, to selling tickets, answering questions, keeping the media and scouts on hand happy and fed, running the concession stand, feeding the players in the school cafeteria to running errands.

"Without them we don't run the event," said Schlabach.  "We could never do without them.

"This whole thing began as a Hiland girls basketball event.  Now the community has taken hold and made it their own, and they have taken it very seriously.  It's already at the point where we just steer it.  The volunteers and community are the ones who make it work.

"They have a great understanding of what needs to be done here to make it a success.   From parking to credentials to meals and games, they took care of all of the problems and just told us not to worry about the little stuff; just go do your thing."

Last year the event had just over 80 volunteers.  This year, expecting perhaps the same, the directors ordered the orange shirts at the same clip, looking for something that would help people to be able to find volunteers if they had any questions.

Little did they anticipate the 180+ people who would volunteer for duty.

"We had to reorder shirts two times before it was all said and done," said Schlabach.  "by our last organizational meeting we had a waiting list of people willing to help.  This has got to be the only place where that kind of thing could happen."

The number of volunteers, who scurried around the Perry Reese Community Center like bees in a hive, were kept hopping due to the increase in attendance.  While the official figures won't be known for several days, Schlabach estimates that the attendance was somewhere in the vicinity of 9,000 to 10,000 -- and that doesn't include the 1,100 players and coaches involved in the varsity and junior varsity game schedule.

"Anytime you talk to someone about this event, the atmosphere comes up about every other word," said Schlabach.  "That's a direct result of these volunteers.  They pour themselves into this.  The ability of this community to get involved and do things right is incredible.  they want to make sure that there is quality entertainment provided in every aspect.  I had several scouts taking down notes who were taking them back for their own schools."

One prime example was the high school crew of Esther Mast, Kyle Beachy, Kyle Miller and Eric Miller, who provided the halftime and timeout entertainment with some dazzling games like hula hoops, a basketball version of musical chairs, and allowing patrons to take Nerf ball shots for candy prizes during timeouts at their miniature hoops.

"The kids took that to a whole new level," said Schlabach.  "They helped generate interest and fun when there could have been nothing.  Things like that make a huge difference.

Up at the high school cafeteria, Tom Lee and a crew of volunteers sacrificed the three days making sure that teams had everything they needed to eat.  They could have gone and seen some great basketball, and probably would have liked to, but instead they dedicated themselves to creating that caring atmosphere that Schlabach talked about.

But as usual, Schlabach had all the bases covered, providing them with a large-screen TV so they could watch the games from their post.

"This was a great second year for us," said Schlabach.  "We want to continue to grow the event at about a 20 percent rate.  The fan base grew; the number of college scouts went from 80 to 106; we had almost three times as many volunteers. It was a whole community of unselfish people taking the time to get this done, and get it done right."

"You couldn't write a better script to end it," said Schlabach.

When Schlabach made that statement following his team's intense, standing ovation final win over Archbishop Hoban to round out the event, he could have been talking about that one, final game.  He could have been talking about his team, or his event.

But it has always been more than that to Schlabach.

In his mind, it was a victory for the community.

His girls' effort was just the icing on the cake.  It was their way of thanking the community for helping to make the Classic in the Country Challenge so special.