While Perry Messer is busy coaching the Northampton girls basketball team these days, you can bet he’s still keeping up with his alma mater and former team. 

The Pioneer graduate who went on to coach the Panther boys basketball team to back-to-back MIAA Div. 3 state championships in 1996 and 1997 made the trip to Lowell on Saturday to watch the Panthers do what his teams did: cap off an unbeaten season with a state championship, as Pioneer won the Div. 5 title with a 49-28 victory over Hopedale at the Tsongas Center.

The win meant the Panthers finished their season with an unblemished 26-0 record. Messer’s Pioneer squads did the same, having gone 25-0 during both of their back-to-back state titles. 

“It’s a testament to the kids,” Messer said. “That’s what it’s all about in the long run. You have to be willing to put the effort in and they did that. It’s nice to see and something they will remember for the rest of their life. When I go into that gym and see those banners I remember all the kids from those teams and the memories we made. These kids will be able to have that same experience now. You remember all the people who were there supporting you. Our games used to be packed. It was fun to see the support this team got from the local community as well. There’s a lot of good people up there.” 

It makes sense that even though the championships came 28 years apart, this Pioneer team resembled the great teams of the past. 

It was Messer who knocked on Pioneer coach Scott Thayer’s door to get him into coaching, with Thayer accepting and joining the Panther staff. Thayer was an assistant during those back-to-back unbeaten seasons and has taken the lessons learned from those teams and applying them to the current Pioneer squad. 

As the final seconds were ticking down on the clock on Saturday, Thayer turned to the crowd with a big smile on his face and pointed to Messer as an ode to the coach who got him started. 

“Being at the game was really fun for me,” Messer said. “Scotty’s dad was instrumental to me growing up and gave me a lot of support in high school with my brothers. I was the one that knocked on the door and got Scott into coaching. He was my assistant so there’s a lot of emotional ties there that go back to that town and that community. It was fun to watch. 

“You just have to tip your cap to the kids,” Messer added. “I know with Scott up there, he puts in a lot of hard work and he cares. I know how good of a coach he is too. If you care about the kids and are willing to give back to them and they’re willing to put in the work, good things are going to happen.” 

It takes a certain type of team to go undefeated, from the hard work put in during the offseason to the focus of not slipping up on any given night. Messer said he saw similarities to his old Panther teams in terms of how Pioneer played. 

“Number one is I’m a stickler for defense and stuff like that and those guys played defense,” Messer said. “Number two is being unselfish. That was a trait of our kids and this team was unselfish as well. They got the ball to where it needed to go to score. The teams were similar in a lot of ways. They play hard, they didn’t lose their composure in big moments and they stepped up for each other.”

It was also the cohesiveness the Panthers play with, having grown up playing together, that impressed Messer. 

“I thought they play well together,” Messer said. “They play well defensively and they have multiple kids who can score the ball. If somebody is having an off day, they have somebody there ready to step up. They don’t make mistakes and made all the right plays. When it was their opportunity, they made their shots. That’s what you need to have in a championship team.”

Messer pointed out a player like Kurt Redeker who sacrificed his offense to shut down Hopedale’s top scorer, Patrick Madden, on the defensive end and how that was emblamatic of a championship team. 

“They did a good job and exploited what was given to them,” Messer said. “Hopedale had a few good lefties and shooters. Kurt Redeker did a phenomenal job on their top scorer. He had to sacrifice his offense to do that but that’s what you have to do with a good team. You do whatever it takes to win. It’s nice to see a kid sacrifice his offensive game to play defense.”

The similarities go further than just the style of play. When Messer was watching Saturday’s game and heard Thayer call out certain plays, he recognized them right away. 

“When Hopedale went zone, there were a few plays Scott ran that I had run back in the day,” Messer said. “I could hear him call it out and knew what was going to happen. It still works and I still run a lot of that stuff with my girls now too.” 

Knowing the Thayer family for a long time, Messer said he was happy Scott was able to win a state title with his son, Brayden Thayer, during his last year coaching him. 

Having coached his kids himself and won a state championship with his daughter, Jamie, at Northampton, Messer said he understands the challenges that go into it but how rewarding it can be.

“I know what Scott was feeling,” Messer said. “It’s not easy coaching your kids. You tend to be harder on them to prove a point and that’s hard sometimes. You have to be twice as hard on them so everyone else knows they aren't being favored. You have to be able to put up with the heat and Brayden did that. It’s not easy having your dad ride you like that but he’s a kid who wants to be successful. Having won one with Jamie, I know how special that must have been for Scott and Brayden.” 

Pioneer lost an icon in November when Perry’s father, Bill Messer, passed away at the age of 101. Bill Messer was a longtime athletic director with the Panthers, with Messer Gymnasium at Pioneer named in his honor. He said he knows how proud his dad would have been to see his Panthers capture another state title. 

“I’m happy for the kids, I’m happy for Scott and I’m happy for the community up there,” Messer said. “I know Scotty’s dad was looking down smiling and I know my dad was too.”