Falcons flock to celebrate seniors at Senior Night basketball games
More stories from Avery Yudice
Freshman Carly Amborn drives to the basket to add two to the scoreboard, advancing the Falcon’s score.
Both the boys and girls Varsity basketball teams took on the Novato High School Hornets on Tuesday, Feb. 1. The night was special, as it was both teams’ last home game and “Senior Night.”
Festivities began at 6:00 p.m. when girls Varsity coach Zach Wahle introduced all five seniors: guard Jada Shore, center Margaret Young, forward Lucy Johnson, point guardBea Mancini, and forward Nina Bautista. They took photos and received flowers from their parents to celebrate their incredible season and basketball careers.
“The team has made all five of us feel really good tonight. It’s sad, we’ve put so much time into basketball and it’s coming to an end really soon, but I’m really really happy at the same time,” Margaret said.
The girls came out strong, with a shutout first quarter resulting in a score of 10-0. Coach Wahle played all five seniors in at the beginning of the match and kept them in together for the majority of the game.
“It’s always really hard to play a team like Novato, because it’s really just all over the place, but everyone got in and we were hitting nice shots,” Jada said.
The Falcons dominated the game, despite the team’s “scrappiness” described by Jada. With a final score of 48-15.
“I felt really sad, especially watching my dad doing the book, he’s been there for four years and finishing up my journey here with my friends who I’ve played with since we were 10, but it’s all really full circle,” Jada said.
With heavy hearts, but immense pride, the senior girls hope to finish their season on a high note. Jada believes that the team will crush their opponents in MCALs next year.
At 7:30 p.m., the boys’ game commenced with a recognition of the seniors at center court. Each senior and his parents were asked to step forward to be celebrated for their honorable basketball careers.
“It’s a very emotional night, you see all the fans and they’re rooting for you and you realize this might be one of your last basketball games at Archie Williams, it’s just a sad day, but it’s also happy because you’re celebrating your career,” said senior forward Jake Barnes.
AWHS played against the Novato High School Hornets which many predicted would be an “easy” win for the Falcons, but that theory was proved wrong. The Falcons came out strong from the beginning, but the Hornets quickly caught up and after the second quarter, the Hornets were within just six points of the Falcons with a score of 24-18.
The Falcons struggled in the second half and were down by two with 24.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The crowd was quiet with anticipation as AWHS inbounded the ball. With a couple passes, senior Jack Wuthnow gained possession of the ball and shot and made a three pointer, making the score 45-44 with just 10 seconds left in the game.
The crowd went wild and the team besieged the court as a timeout was called by Novato. Novato gained possession of the ball but could not complete a basket. The Falcon faithful stormed the court at the end of the game, cheering and crowding in the center of the court.
“Atrocious; it was a terrible game all around, we’re lucky we pulled out the win,” said senior center Charles Preston.
The seniors celebrated their accomplishments as they played their last home game of their high school careers. They have great hopes for the program next year and beyond.
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