In an assertive fashion, the boy’s basketball team dropped a near 20-point win on the Coolidge Colts. Coach Bill led his team to outscore Calvin Coolidge High School 81-62.
Going into Friday night, tensions were high, and both teams wanted to show who was going to run DCIAA basketball. Before we had even reached game day, the trash talk had started, with Cooldige calling Jackson Reed “Calvin Reed”, certain that they were gonna come out on top.
When the time for playing did arrive, the attendance wasn’t lacking. Before the girls’ game had even reached halftime, capacity was reached, and students from both schools were watching.
Throughout the game, the girls trailed significantly, but despite being down 13 at the start of the fourth, the tone had changed. Both student sections had come alive with their signs, chants, and belts, and the Jackson Reed girls came alive, too. With a punishing constant attack on both offense and defense, the game was brought to within 2 points with only 6 seconds remaining and free throws to shoot. The first shot was good, but the second went in and out, and the put-back was no good, the game ended in a 56-51 loss.
The Coolidge student section had belts out, smacking the “Calvin Reed” sign and shouting all the way into the next game, but Jackson Reed boys and their students did not waver. The first few minutes were a slight cause for concern as the Colts went up early, but Coach Bill’s high press led to steal after steal, and the Tigers ended the first up 19-14.
From there, JR and the home crowd seemed to get more fierce, while the other team fell. The threes were raining down, and it seemed like no player was afraid of punishing the rim.
One player that greatly stood out was junior guard Averi Knight, a new addition to the team who hit 1000 points in his high school career this game. Knight was constantly attacking the paint and picking up quick transition points off steals. The whole team worked greatly off one another, finding open looks and knocking down one after another.
The third quarter is not the last quarter, but in this game, it seemed to have ended there as the Tigers outscored the Colts by 11, putting them up 23. It was truly a brutal quarter for Coolidge, with an authoritative slam by sophomore James Walker and a crowd that made sure the Colts knew who was in charge.
Before the fourth had even started, the opposing fans started to file out of the gym quietly, while the celebration had already started for JR students. When that final whistle did come, any doubt of who ran DCIAA was lost. After 10 straight years of beating Coolidge, is the outcome of this yearly matchup ever really in question? •