On the day of daylight saving, we lost an hour, but being a Raptor topped off that loss with a victory from the night before that will go down in Eaglecrest history. 

The Eaglecrest Boys’ Basketball team won the 2016-17 5A State Championship.

Being four years since the last Championship, the team brought home a trophy and earned this year’s roster a ring in a dramatic fashion: In the final four game, the team went on to take a victory over Rock Canyon.

The ball game between Rock Canyon and Eaglecrest was a game of suspense. Up to the last second, the ending result was competitive.

On the board, Colbey Ross added 25 points, Victor Garnes with 8, Austin Forsberg with 5, and Xavion Jackson throwing in 2. Within the post play, Ikenna Ozor tacked on 6, Josh Walton with 13, and Nate Bokol snuck  in 2.

Leaving the score at 54-54 at the end of the fourth, the game was moved into overtime where the Jaguars and the Raptors ramped up the intensity.

If there’s one team that you could count on to make a great comeback, it’s the Eaglecrest Raptors.

In the team win Friday night, Ross scored majority of the points for the Raptors except one. He hit some aggressive shots that kept the Raptors in the game offensively. Defensively, the Raptors were lead by Garnes. Garnes made sure he was aggressive making every drive and pass a difficult one for Rock Canyon.

With all of that the Raptors didn’t have the lead.

Walton missed three free throws for the Raptors, but that didn’t stop him from being the Raptors saving grace. With seconds left Walton drove to the basket and drew a foul. Everyone was cheering with excitement because these free throws were the things that separated us from a back to back championship game or another overtime period. The first attempt went up..”Clink”. Walton missed it and everyone gasped. The second attempt went up seconds later and it went straight through the net. The Coliseum went nuts. Everyone in the “Red Sea” began hugging and cheering.

The next day they found themselves battling for the state title in an intense regulation game against George Washington High School.

George Washington was coming off a game against ThunderRidge where they won 61-56. George Washington potentially had a three guard lineup. The lineup featured top state players: Jervay Green, Calvin Fugett, and Jon’il Fugett. Not to mention they had  6’9 big man Tre Pierce. The Eaglecrest win wasn’t going to be easy.

In a physical matchup against George Washington, the Raptors spent the first half trailing the Patriots

The Raptors were down at half 22-16. Whether is was the halftime talk Olander fired at them or merely the inner fire sparking within the team. The boys’ came out from half chipping at the score looking to get a lead. Eaglecrest started the half out strong outscoring the Patriots 17-10. Eaglecrest picked up the defensive intensity and translated that into offense. George Washington was shook. In the fourth quarter, George tried to inch back especially when Ozor went down; that was to no prevail because when he came back in the Raptors finished the game off. Walton topped it off with a layup of his own. Game: 53-47. George Washington was held to their lowest scoring total all season.

The Raptor community tasted a championship once again. A taste that will be put up permanently in the East gym for all to remember.

     Throughout Olander’s last 5 years of coaching, he and his team had 4 final four appearances, 3 final appearances and Eaglecrest is happily sending him out with 2 championships under his belt. As the 1 and only John Olander Jr’s  last year before retirement, the boys have accomplished a goal of going out with a bang.