Pennsylvania State Championship Narrative

It was the evening before our departure to Richmond to compete in the 1A Basketball State Semi-Finals against Radford High School. We were at practice and Coach Burns wanted to have a meeting before practice. As we gathered around coach, he looked at all of us and said, “I love every single one of you guys.” I think that meant something special to all of us on that team. He trusted us that we would play our hearts out during this game and come out victorious. I think to myself, we can do this; we can beat Radford, who had beaten us earlier in the season.

We had the ball, my teammate, Jessica, dribbled the ball down the floor. I called for the ball with one hand in the air, and she flung the ball to me. I got the ball, pivoted, and went down the lane. Luckily, they were set up in a zone and two girls approached me, and one of them just so happened to foul me on my arm.

Jeremy, my coach, was giving us our half time speech. We all huddled in a circle after and some of my teammates make a speech about what we need to do better and how we are playing. Once the referee blows the whistle we jog onto the field. I was playing center back with sadie. The score was 3-0 when the second half started.

The ball left my fingertips and it swooshed. One point. One point away from this dream of mine that has just become a reality. The referee hands me the ball. I look to where my family and my team is sitting: my mom sitting anxiously, my sister holding her phone to capture this moment, my teammates all holding hands, and Coach Hurt, who looks at me and says, “relax, you’ve got this.” Once again, I stepped up to the line. I dribbled one time, lined my elbow up, and closed my eyes for a split second and shot. When the ball left my fingertips, I did not know if the ball was going to go in. But, at the last second I saw the ball go through the net. I was ecstatic. The next thing I knew, my teammates were hugging me and the crowd was going wild. I could not have scored 1000 points if I did not have the support from my teammates, my coaches, and my

During a basketball game we had I had gotten into the game and like all Northwood basketball games, we were losing. It was constantly getting the ball inbounded, getting pressed, and turning over the ball for them to score. They were garbage though so we had a standing chance. There was a total of 30 seconds left on the clock and I drove the ball out and kicked it to our point guard to shoot a three, which he hit. We were down by four then we had to foul and they shot two foul shots because it was the rule. They made both the foul shots and I came down the court with 13 seconds and we were down by 6 so I shot a floater from the three point line after a kid bumped into me, so I tried to draw the foul, and it

It's the championship game, the team was going for first place and they are down by five points with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. Coach puts the strongest player in to finish off the game and bring a win with her. The time is running out but after two baskets they are only down by a single point, as she is bringing the ball down the court she calls out to her team telling them to run a play they all know. The opposing team's defense is pressing her as soon as she crosses half-court, she is looking for her man to pass the ball to. That is where it gets a little confusing as it appears nobody has moved out of their positions. No one is listening when she calls out the play, she is are stranded and the turnover is forced. As the

Having trotted the ball up to the three-point line, he beamed the ball to me. As soon as I received the ball, I spun and fired off the winning basket. With that backboard in sight, three players in blue and gold jerseys yanked me to the ground. The referee blew his whistle, announcing I had been fouled. Afterward, the referee lifted me up as I shuffled to the free-throw line. I thought it would be simple, just like coach said. I knew what needed to happen, I needed to make these two free throws to win the game for the Lions. As always, though, it is never that

Although our lead didn’t last very long because the other team started to deny me the ball and making the rest of the team shoot the ball. Our point guard saw what was going on and just took it to the basket every time and getting foul. The bad thing was that he couldn't seem to hit 2 free throw shots in a row, while the other team couldn’t miss a single shot they throw towards the basket. I was starting to worry that we were going to lose this game when suddenly our big man blocked 3 shots in a row and brought them down to turn them into 3 buckets for us. I was still afraid, but now the score was 78 to 70, and we had the momentum and started to ride

They didn’t get the ball and their top running back just broke his back and he is out of the game. Sammy knows the ball is going to him knowing he is the best wide receiver on the team. His team starts scoring and the defense stopped the offense every time. The Red Hawks got their self’s back into the game and are not going to give up. The score of the game is 36-36 with 0:04 left in the 4th quarter. Sammy is ordered to do a Hail Mary to the end zone and score. Sammy knew this was his chance to become that one legend he had always dreamed to be. The ball was hiked and Sammy took off. There are zero seconds on the clock. This is the final chance to win it all. The ball was thrown and Sammy catches it and has a clear path. The crowed goes wild all of a sudden he drops the ball at the one yard line and it is recovered by the opposite team. The crowed dies and the game is taken to over time with the opposite team getting the

The next quarter our opponents tied the game up at the end of the half. Once halftime ended both teams filed out of the locker rooms and returned to the field. The third quarter began and the stadium grew very loud. My team let the lead slip away from us and we knew it. At the end of the third quarter my team was down.

It's the last quarter and it's 4th down and 2. The do a fullback dive and i run up there and hit him and knock his helmet off and i look at where he stopped and he is one yard off. We win the game.

“Tweeeet,” he blared his whistle. Nate fell to the ground clutching his knee from the impact. Some of my teammates and I hustled over to help him up but he couldn’t get up. After a couple of minutes of downtime, and trying to get Nate off the ground, we finally started up again. Nate was a big part of the team. He led the team in blocks and rebounds. The game carried on until the 4th quarter. We were barely hanging on. There were 10 seconds left in the game and we were down two points. I trotted up the court dribbling the ball in my left hand. As I passed half court I looked at the clock and noticed there were only seven seconds

 I was eating some skittles and drinking Gatorade before our final game was going to start. In the tip off my friend Kailey was jumping to get the tip off against a really tall girl. They both jump up and Kailey gets the tip and I dribble up the court and pass it to my teammate lyric and he goes up for the layup and he makes it. The next play that we get the ball lyric passes it to me in the corner then I shoot a three and I make it then the crowd goes wild because I am a really good three point shooter. It is now 5 to 0 and the moody crowd is booing their team because they haven’t made a shot yet. The moody team has the ball now and they pass it to the tall big girl and she shoots the fade away and she makes it. It is now 5 to 2 and there is 19 minutes remaining in the first half. We got the ball and Abby gave it to me in the corner and I

It was time. The whistle blew, and the ball was in motion. For several minutes, the ball was stagnant in the midfield. Back and forth it went, from green to blue, green, and back to blue. In a lucky moment, blue stole the ball, allowing Shelby to pull and hit it nearly the length of the field. We worked it into our offensive circle, and Mariah pushed the ball into a green foot. The referee gave the signal for a corner. This was our opportunity. I grasped the ball and jogged to the endline. The pressure was on. One bad pass, and they could have a break away, which would be detrimental to us.

There running back ran for a first down and brought them up to the forty yard line. He hasn’t done much all game so the team decided it would be best if they gave him a shot. He ran it again and got another first down and another ten yards up to the fifty yard line. They gave the ball to him and then forty, thirty, and he was tackled. He was on fire and did not plan on stopping for anything any time soon. The cougars had all their faith in him today, so they gave the ball to him for the fourth time in a row. There was twenty seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter and they needed a touchdown or a field goal to win. The star running back got the ball and was immediately encountered and dropped at the line of scrimmage. He stayed on the ground holding his left knee. His team rushed to him almost simultaneously after the hit.