Through no fault of his own, coach Tony Cordani has moved around the past three years more than your luggage after the airline misplaces it.

But Cordani just might have found a permanent home in Hopedale.

Late yesterday afternoon at the Worcester Centrum, the Cordani-led Blue Raiders earned the school's first-ever trip to the Division 3 Boy's Basketball State Final with a 60-44 semifinal win over Pioneer Valley.

Hopedale, which boasts a senior class of just 80 students, will face Newburyport Saturday (12:30 p.m.) at the Centrum.

The road Cordani took to reach Saturday's final was far from a straight one. He'd rather not be, but he's the answer to the following trivia question: What MetroWest coach has taken three different teams to the tournament in the past three years?

You guessed it. Tony Cordani.

Cordani's seventh and final Tri-County team lost in the opening round of the tournament in 1997-98. He moved on to Hopkinton the following year where the Hillers won their first outright Tri-Valley League title and went to the Division 4 title game before losing.

But in between, Cordani's physical education job at Tri-County was eliminated. Hopkinton couldn't find him a position and Cordani was forced to look elsewhere.

"It was tough to leave Hopkinton," said Cordani. "It was tough to leave Tri-County, for that matter. I went to Hopkinton because I wanted a little different challenge. But when I didn't have a teaching job....."

Cordani took over at Hopedale for the legendary Don Klocek, who was a fixture there for 30 years.

According to senior forward Brian Bacon, Cordani was a nice fit for this predominantly senior squad.

"He brought a lot to the table," said Bacon. "He put in a whole new offense, an offense that takes advantage of our three big men. He doesn't yell or scream, he guides you along."

Senior guard Jon Tosches like what he saw from the new guy immediately.

"There was a big difference from last year," said Tosches. "Don Klocek was a legend and here this new guy comes in and it's almost like college. There was constant movement in practice; there was no down time. Every second was accounted for. That's where we started to develop our work ethic."

Dan Thiffault, another senior forward, agrees.

"I remember the first day of tryouts," he said. "We didn't know what to expect, but he worked us pretty hard and that was good. We were kinda used to coach Klocek and we had some reservations about the new coach. But right away we bonded around coach Cordani."

If there was ever going to be a crisis this season it came after game five, when the Blue Raiders lost a 30-point blowout at the hands of Sutton and fell to 2-3 on the year.

"It was kinda humiliating going down by 30 to Sutton," said senior guard Kevin Webber. "We didn't want to be upset like that again so we started to work harder in practice."

Rather than overreact to that embarrassing loss, Cordani downplayed it.

Coach told us not to worry about it," said Tosches. "He said 'stay under control.' He helped us through it and we've been rolling ever since."

Which gives the Blue Raiders a 20-game winning streak heading into Saturday's finals.

"Our goal right along was to win CMass," said Bacon. "Anything else was frosting on the cake."

"When we lost that game to Sutton," said Thiffault, "the state finals looked a little bit out of our reach. We were far from tanking it, but, to be honest, I didn't expect us to go this far."

Cordani, who hopes to surrender his title of vagabond coach, won't take a whole lot of credit for this CMass Hoosier tale.

"I didn't come in here and perform any miracles," said Cordani. "They're successful for a lot of different reasons. They have great attitudes and work ethics. It's a great school system. The teachers take a vested interest in the kids and the parents are obviously really behind their kids. The kids are good basketball players and even better people."

But it shouldn't be overlooked that the last three teams Cordani has coached are a combined 57-15. Asked if he'd like to settle into the Hopedale community a la Don Klocek and put down roots that last for three decades or better, Cordani flashes a smile that speaks volumes about the difficult journey he has endured the last three winters.

"I'd love to be at Hopedale for 30 years," said Cordani. "It's a great high school atmosphere."

You get the sense the number of people who'd like to see Tony Cordani stay that long is growing daily.