A Tribute to the Big Day

How many times have a father and son win their first state championships on the same day for two different teams? Well, I honestly don't know, but take whatever number you came up with and add one to it because it happened today in the Barre Auditorium. Congratulations to both John and Brian Pellegrini on their state championships in divisions two and four!

John, the assistant coach for the Williamstown Blue Devils, saw his team take down Proctor and deny the Phantoms their fifth straight Division Four Championship. (Note: I said earlier today that Proctor had won 97 straight games. I heard some conflicting reports at the Aud today, but we all agree that the streak was over 90 games at least). Although Williamstown made me nervous throughout the game, they persevered and quickly changed the property rights from Proctor's self-proclaimed "Our House" to a new owner.

Brian's Raiders, on which he is one of three graduating seniors, seemed to have all they could handle through the first three quarters while trying to shake away the Missisquoi Thunderbirds. However, the fourth quarter gave them the opportunity to separate from the Thunderbirds and allowed all three seniors a huge win and a round of thunderous applause to end their careers on.

I'm sure that you all will hear all the stats from this game on the news or read them in the paper, so I won't bore you here. I just want to throw out my congratulations to these two teams and in particular these two guys who I have seen use their respective talents throughout the years and our hometown in the OC.

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Matchup for the Ages

I'm sure you all have had this; that feeling of anticipation before an important event. Today is one of those days, the day that six of the best teams in Vermont descend upon Barre to try the claim division championships. Approximately 60 players will leave it all on the floor while trying to bring a crown back to the cheering hometown. Today's games have personal meaning for me as history might perhaps repeat itself again. The Proctor Phantoms will be going for their fifth straight championship and sixth out of the last seven. This team is riding a 97 game winning streak; some of these players have never lost a high school basketball game in their career. Some people will argue with my claim because two years ago, if some of you will remember, there was a terrible snowstorm and caused many games to be postponed. One such game was between Proctor and Twin Valley which they had much trouble rescheduling. In fact, they had so much trouble rescheduling the game that they played it as an exhibition after the deadline to submit games for playoffs. As you may have guessed, Proctor lost this game. Therefore, the story was run in several newspapers that Proctor had finally lost. However, I refuse to count this as a loss. My rationale is the simple fact that Proctor was ready to make yet another run at the championship. While I was not at the game, I assume that the Phantoms were not playing their starters the entire game simply because why would they risk injuring these players right before making a playoff run? Therefore, even though everybody may tell you that Proctor does not have a 97 game winning streak, don't believe them

Officially, they still have a 97 game streak although they will face a tough test today against the Williamstown Blue Devils who advanced to the finals in one of the greatest games I've ever seen. I highly recommend the highlight film on the Central Sports Network. With all of the momentum that follows a miraculous buzzer beater, Williamstown will be riding high in hopes of bringing home a championship to the OC. This is going to be what I hope is a matchup for the ages, and I hope I will see many of you there!

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