On Thursday, the Community Vikings will be making their first basketball state tournament appearance since 1944.

From the 364 days between the sectional loss to the East Nashville Eagles that ended the 2019-20 season to the win against the Eagles in the sectional game on March 8, plenty of events have transpired that have led to the Vikings' history-making season.

After graduating five seniors, including four starters off last season's 32-2 team that was one win from the state tournament, the Viking preseason was curtailed by the pandemic and the 2020-21 season was in jeopardy.

With several measures put into place to play the season, the starting lineup of seniors Will Reed, Jackson Bailey, Evan Petrie, and Jacob Cooper along with junior Stratton Lovvorn saw action last season but had little time to gel and get their chemistry in motion for the upcoming season.

The Vikings started the season 9-1 but lost six of their next seven games and were 10-7 overall and 1-2 in District 12-AA play after falling to Nolensville on January 19.

Community lost its seven games by 17 points and was within striking distance in all of its losses.

The Vikings rebounded by winning their next seven district games and avenged their two earlier district losses by defeating Marshall County and Nolensville.

Community finished 8-2 in the district and in a first-place tie with Marshall County.

The Vikings were seeded second in the district tournament and defeated Forrest, an upset winner over Nolensville, in their opening semifinal game. After the Central Magnet Tigers defeated Marshall County in the other semifinal, Community hosted Central Magnet in the district finals.

The Vikings defeated the Tigers for their second consecutive District 12-AA championship.

Community's season almost came to an abrupt halt in the first round of the Region 6-AA tournament.

The Stewart County Rebels, a team Coach Robbie Davis said was the hardest playing team he has ever had to coach against in his coaching career, gave the Vikings a mighty scare.

In a tie game, the Rebels missed a potential game-winning shot from close range at the end of regulation.

After Stewart County led by one point with under a minute left in overtime, Bailey hit a shot in the lane that gave the Vikings the lead.

Free throws down the stretch by Reed sent the Vikings to the region semifinals.

The Vikings played Marshall County in the semifinals.

After splitting their two games in the regular season, Community increased its lead in the final minutes on the way to a region championship rematch against the Creek Wood Red Hawks.

The Vikings played their first postseason game on the road against the Red Hawks and battled tooth and nail for the upper hand.

A field goal by Petrie in the fourth quarter gave Community the lead for good and the Vikings used an outstanding night from the free throw line to win their second consecutive Region 6-AA crown.

The region win brought on a home rematch with the East Nashville Eagles in the sectional with a berth in the state tournament awaiting the winner.

The Eagles overcame an 11-point deficit to put an end to the Viking season last season, but Community did not let history repeat itself.

A Petrie field goal gave the Vikings the lead for good in the third quarter.

Community did not look back and increased its lead en route to its first state tournament appearance in 77 years.

During their 13-game winning streak, the Vikings have built on their chemistry since their last loss in January.

Reed, Petrie, and Bailey have split time leading the team in scoring during a big part of the postseason while Lovvorn came up big with his outside shooting in the win over East Nashville. Cooper is the defender that often guards the opposing team's leading scorer.

Freshman Maki Fleming comes off the bench to spell Cooper at the guard position while sophomore Emery Smith has seen time in key situations.

Now comes a quarterfinal game Thursday at 10 a.m. in the TSSAA Class AA state tournament at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro against the Kingston Yellowjackets.

The Yellowjackets will be making their seventh state tournament appearance and their first since 1991.

Kingston defeated Sullivan East in its sectional game to advance to the state tournament.

The interest in the game has been at a fever pitch.

With 250 tickets allotted to each team during the Thursday morning session, Community fans purchased the first tickets that went online in about a minute.

Tickets that were not initially sold by other teams went on sale two days later and sold out in a few minutes.

The Community vs. Kingston winner will take on the winner between Howard and Jackson South Side on Friday at 4 p.m.

The state championship finals are Saturday at 2 p.m.