The Hawks faced EARJ’s Panthers in the basketball Semifinals today at 11am. Before it had even started, other coaches warned EABH about how difficult it would be to beat the Panthers, a very violent team. Indeed, the game was filled with aggression; multiple athletes were down. It started off on a positive note for us: Ted Mason (12) scored a three pointer. The first quarter was quite even, ending in 14 EABH x EARJ 15. During the second half, team captain Lincoln Pfile (3) evened out the match and gave the Hawks an advantage; it ended at 25 EABH x EARJ 23.
During halftime, there were two cheerleader presentations: Our Lady of Mercy went first and performed their ISSL routine. They chanted “Let’s go OLM” and “Go Lancers” even though their team is not at the tournament. The music was unnecessarily loud, but they did very well and ended their routine in an amazing pyramid pose. Following, Trojan cheerleaders with a more modern and daring proposal. They had some very cool moves! Might have been more similar to TikTok dancing than cheerleading, though.
Third quarter was complicated; The Hawks started missing out on more shots than they should have, and the ball seemed to never go into the hoop. Lincoln Pfile got thrown down far too many times but kept getting up despite truly being hurt at one point. EARJ unfortunately took the advantage and made their comeback. It ended at 33 EABH x EARJ 43. The final quarter was very tense, and the hawks fought bravely; they took risky shots and persisted until the end, marked at 39 EABH x EARJ 48. Qualifying for either third or fourth place tomorrow, the Hawks have made us proud by participating in such an esteemed tournament!