Every year, seniors optimistically prepare to break the teacher’s dominant streak in the Seniors vs. Staff basketball game. For the past few years, the games haven’t been close. The tandem duo of Mr. Hollinger and Coach Franklin have been insurmountable for the students, but this year, a wave of hope ran through the senior class. For the first time in years, basketball players were allowed to play, as long as they did not start on the team. This placed Casey Chan, 12, and Mitch Mooney, 12, into coaching positions for the seniors. However, Leo Shyr, 12, and Brady Beck, 12, were allowed to play, alongside former basketball players Jared Wang, 12, and Luca Moggio, 12, both of whom now play volleyball. The surprise star for the seniors was Surdish Randhawa, 12, who had electric ballhandling abilities and was known for being one of the better pick-up basketball players in the grade.
More optimistic news for the seniors came when it was discovered the Coach Franklin would not be playing in the game, although this came with a caveat. No members of the baseball team, with the exception of Jack Pacoirek, 12, would be allowed to play in the game, as baseball still remained in season. Despite this, the students would have an uphill battle to climb, as Mr. Hollinger, Mr. Penafuerte, Coach Streeter, and Mr. Gayl still remained to lead the teachers.
Early on, the game was close, but as halftime neared, the teacher’s lead grew to nearly double digits. The game never got very lopsided, and captured the attention of the crowd well. Incidents such as Streeter taking out a student going for a loose ball brought laughter amongst the students, but fired up the senior class. As the game neared its conclusion, a sense of urgency was felt among the seniors. Down by nine with two minutes to go, several buckets fell for the Titans, and ASB Athletics Commissioner Rowan Burke, 11, felt the need to switch the running clock rule for the final minute to traditional basketball timing rules. However, Mr. Gayl disagreed, and Gayl continuously re-started the clock when Burke shut it off, all in the midst of an ongoing play on the court. Ultimately, Gayl’s actions may have saved the teacher’s win streak, as the clock expired with the teachers up by three points.
In recent memory, this was the closest the teachers had been to losing the basketball game. This annual tradition that marks the beginning of the end of the school year brought immense joy to a student body that was starting to stress about finals and AP tests. Next year, we’ll see if the teachers can continue their roll, or if the students will carry the momentum established this year.
