The Red Army – the good guys, not the Soviet sort of decades past – marches on.

With its rowdy rooting section serving as a boisterous backdrop and athletes playing with poise and purpose beyond their years, Antelope High School continued to defy prep sports logic with another milestone moment.

The red-clad Titans – with their first senior class – bounced longtime powerhouse Northgate of Walnut Creek 68-62 in a CIF Northern California Division II Regional boys basketball opener Tuesday night on the strength of a 24-point display by John Winters and typical team-wide contributions.

The host Titans may not fully grasp it yet – they'll surely tell their grandkids years from now – but this is groundbreaking stuff. No area team with such a young school had won a NorCal playoff game. This one wasn't easy – none are for this learning-fast group – but it was the sort of satisfaction that matched last week's stunning rally to beat Woodcreek in a Sac-Joaquin Section thriller at Power Balance Pavilion.

Now it's off to Chico on Thursday to face a 27-1 Panthers team that beat Antelope by 12 in early December. That's when the Titans were still coming of age, a season after going 9-18 in the program's debut varsity campaign. Antelope is 26-6 and in no mood to stop now.

"It's almost to the point where our youth, inexperience and ignorance are a blessing," sighed beyond-words-proud coach Rob Richards. "They haven't been here before. They haven't grasped the enormity of it."

Here's enormous: Winters scoring inside and out as a 6-foot-4 senior threat, Devin Campbell setting up his teammates at guard, and cogs such as Caleb King, Kei'shaun Sinclair, Kendall Martin, Jarvis Watkins, Isaiah Ellis and Dom Mullane doing their part.

Antelope was athletic, aggressive and unselfish, doling out 18 assists. It also defended well against a Broncos team from the North Coast Section that had attempted an amazing 569 three-pointers this season in taking a 23-6 mark to Sacramento. Northgate attempted 27 threes Tuesday and made seven, the same amount as Antelope, including three makes by Watkins.

All the while, the Titans' spirited student section, aptly called the Red Zone, roared its approval. The night started with two junior students – Nick Torrance and Dequoan Martin – singing the national anthem while decked in Superman capes and red high socks.

"The Red Zone helps us out more than they realize," said Campbell, a Titans captain and honors student. "We needed them."

And Richards still needs them. He is calling on all comers Thursday for the trek to Chico. It's a minimum day, so fire up the engines and vocal cords, the coach said.

"I'm all about safety, and I think it'd be OK for students to switch off driving, sit in the back doing homework, or take a bus and watch," Richards said. "This is for the entire school, the community. It just doesn't happen often."

In Chico, the Titans again will brace for one of the state's most prolific scorers in 6-4 senior gunner Sterling Smith. He averages 24 a game and lit up Antelope for 30 on 14-of-17 shooting in the December meeting. That Titans team isn't to be confused with the seasoned bunch now, and Winters was not yet in uniform for that game.

A nice surprise coming for Chico?

"Just a little bit," Campbell said with an assuring grin. "We're a lot stronger than we were before, a lot better."

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