First time a charm for sixth grade boys’ basketball team

“Let’s go!” I screamed as I jumped up and down on the court. My stomach somersaulted as the final numbers lit up the scoreboard: Emerson 40, Woodridge 35. Those numbers meant our boys’ travel basketball team won the league championship.  It was the first time this group of fifth and sixth graders played together: Michael Graf, Leo Mandile, Hugh Hennessey, Daniel Galeazza, Shea Neuschwanter, Charlie Caiola, Matthew Sabatella, and myself.

We ended the season with a record of 12- 3. It started with a crushing victory over New Milford. With only five players on the court that day, we won 41 to 4.

Then came a loss to Clifton on our own court. Although we won the next three games, we fell to Clifton again by two points later in the season. Still, we held our heads high and headed back to the court more determined than before. We won the next several games, and met Woodridge in the regular season. They won 33 to 23.

Soon after, we learned that the Clifton team which beat us twice would not advance into the league playoffs. Because we had the exact same record as Woodridge, a coin toss decided the number one seed in playoffs. Emerson won that toss, so we battled the number four seed Dumont, and easily won 42 to 16.

Next stop: the championship. Our rematch against Woodridge ended in our favor. Who would have thought a league title would be won by a group of guys who never before traveled together?