We continue to bask in the winning glow of many of our New England sports teams. But largely overshadowed by our rare good fortunes is the phenomenal level of play we're seeing this year in local high school basketball.
I've been fortunate for the last several years to have a bird's eye view of the local hoop scene as color commentator for Greenfield radio station Bear Country's high school basketball coverage. And while it's always fun to spend the evening that way, I have to say that the level of play this season has been better than I've seen in years.
This is especially true in the Hampshire League, which features a mix of Division II and III teams from many of the smaller schools in the upper Pioneer Valley. The league is always competitive, but this year an unprecedented parity combined with the coming of age of a lot of great players has made high school basketball one of the hottest tickets in town.
A great example took place January 8 in Buckland, when the unbeaten Pioneer Regional School Panthers hooked up with perennial Hampshire League powerhouse Mohawk. With their depth and outside shooting ability, Pioneer came in as the favorite, with the conventional belief that it would take a supreme and emotional effort for the Warriors to come out on top.
In the standings, the game meant little more than two points to the winner, and another step toward the 10-win threshold to get into the post-season, plus some bragging rights. That was what people were expecting as they filed into the gym that night. What they got may have been the best regular-season high school basketball ever played in Western Massachusetts.
Mohawk came out storming, riding the tough inside game of Ed Carter and the pinpoint passing of Cory Silver to open up an early lead. The Panthers, who had shot the lights out the week before against Turners Falls, came out cold and were somewhat stunned by the Warriors' aggressive play.
Pioneer would come back from deficits of 15 and 17 points, but could never gain the lead back. Main offensive threat Cody Snow had been having trouble finding the hoop, which meant others had to step up. The main weapon wound up being Alex Klepadlo, who became a force of nature in the second half, sticking threes from way beyond the arc, and draining foul shots with a consistency that gave the impression that the kid had pure ice water in his veins.
The Panthers ended up cutting the lead to 10, then eight, then five and eventually down to three points, setting the stage for one of the most mind-blowing shots in recent memory from Snow, who nailed an NBA three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, in the process nearly blowing the lid off Mohawk's brand new gymnasium.
Overtime was a nip-and-tuck affair that ended when Klepadlo was fouled taking a three-pointer while trailing by two with eight seconds left. Klepadlo promptly stepped up and sank all three free throws to give Pioneer an 80-79 win, the Panthers' first and only lead of the night.
As great as the game was, the scene after was even better. It was as if no one wanted to go home. People milled about the floor, buzzing about the special moment they had just shared. It reminded me of the scene after the first Ali-Frazier fight in Madison Square Garden. No wanted to leave that night either, because it was a moment to be savored.
I remember thinking on the drive home how fortunate I've been to be able to be a part of this game and so many others over the years, because too many times we see the dark side of sports. Be it steroid scandals, shootings or the bad behavior of million-dollar bonus babies, there are a lot of reasons for sports fans to be jaded.
It's tough to feel that way with high school sports, where it's all about the love of the game and school pride. The winners are the fans—and the athletes who continue to give us memories that will last long after the final horn sounds.
