“It’s rebounded by Darren Buchanan Jr., pushing the fast break . . . OHHH MY GOD!” These words have become pretty familiar around Wilson since WilsonLive’s broadcast of the boys varsity basketball home game against Mckinley Tech on January 13. A clip from the game—featuring sophomore Darren Buchanan Jr. rebounding an opposing free throw, single-handedly driving down the court, and slamming the ball into the basket, while juking out some Tech players in the process—has gained popularity on several social media sites since being posted.

The game was announced by freshman Nathaniel Wiegmann and the impressive play combined with the exciting announcing led the clip to gain popularity on Twitter and other social media platforms. Some might even say the clip went viral.

The 12-second clip of this play was cut from WilsonLive’s broadcast and posted on Twitter, where it was then retweeted by Overtime, a globally-recognized sports highlight page. The post was captioned “Announcer went from 0 to 100 TOO QUICK,” and received 8.5K views. The clip was also featured as the play of the week by both DMVstream.com and the Washington Post High School sports page. 

Part of what made the clip so popular was the emotion in Wiegmann’s voice that escalated so quickly. “I saw him driving down the court and I kind of already expected it, so I just reacted how I would normally react,” said Wiegmann, who is a regular play-by-play announcer for WilsonLive.

WilsonLive, run by Instructional Coach David Thompson, is a club where students run live broadcasts of school events, such as sports games, plays, and concerts. The broadcasts go live on the club’s YouTube channel as well as on the website boxcast.com. Broadcasts of sports games feature advanced camerawork, in-depth announcing, and a television-like scoreboard at the bottom of the screen. “We try to build teams of friends so that they feel like they want to work together,” Thompson said.

The club’s YouTube channel recently surpassed 1,000 subscribers, which was a big milestone because it allows them to be a part of the YouTube Partner Program [YPP]. “[The YPP] provides a lot of different things, the biggest one being that you can monetize.” Monetization means that they can now make money from their videos. Wilson Live made 17 cents off of its video of the dunk, and 22 dollars total in January. 

The teamwork required to produce such high-quality footage is definitely not something to look past. A professional-style broadcast requires a student behind the camera, an announcer, and an active scorekeeper. “What makes a good play is the people behind the scenes, and I feel like that just really came to life at that moment,” said sophomore Molly Goldwasser, the camerawoman behind the viral clip.

Since its debut in 2017, WilsonLive has become a well-known organization, and its success continues to grow. “It has definitely grown in popularity this year,” Goldwasser said.

So, if you haven’t seen the clip, go check it out, and if you have, follow Goldwasser’s advice and “Subscribe to Wilson Live!” You won’t miss another game.