Fast Break to Heartache

Just Like Football

Ian J. Schudel

Sacramento- Just getting to Arco Arena can seem like an impossible goal to many high school basketball players in the region when the first tip-off of the year hits. With so many levels of teams, leagues, playoffs and the unforeseen injuries and other inconveniences that always like to rear their ugly heads at the most inopportune time, sometimes just making it into the playoffs can seem like a goal worth striving towards. Some would, but not Colfax. It was clear to anyone fortunate enough to watch this team throughout the pre- and regular season that this team was something special. Throughout the year they just kept on winning. They finished 11-1 in league play and you could almost guarantee a victory anytime you took in a game on their home floor. It was clear come the start of the playoffs that this team had a chance to take it all the way to Arco. They started off their run by trucking Ripon, rolled past Cosumnes Oaks and then had little trouble annihilating Capitol Christian to earn the right to play against their becoming rivals, Modesto Christian.

Some of you might remember that name. Modesto Christian and Colfax were not strangers going into Saturday’s game. Turn back the clock a few months. The Falcon football team is in the playoffs, and it is the first playoff game. It shouldn’t be too hard everyone thinks. They are playing a lower ranked team and that team was none other than that of Modesto Christian.

Turn the clocks forward to present time. Saturday afternoon Colfax met their first true challenge of the playoffs. The powerhouse private school whose name will haunt the football team for the rest of this offseason, the Modesto Christian Crusaders reared their heads once again on Saturday against the Falcon’s, this time on the basketball court. At the beginning of the game you could tell that this would be no cake walk. The Falcons came out strong with forward Joey Jergo (12) scoring seven points in the first quarter but despite the strong start the Crusaders matched them every step of the way. Head Coach, Mike O’Connell, has taught his team a well tuned half court offense that has wrecked havoc on teams throughout the entire season. Colfax met their match on Saturday against Modesto Christian and their run and gun offense led by dynamic multi-sport star Isaiah Burse. The young star, who is headed to Fresno State, ran wild against the Falcons scoring 29 points and doing everything he could to keep his team in the game.

With an 81-70 lead with just over two minutes left in the fourth, Isaiah Burse and the Crusaders seemed to have proven that their fast pace and shove-it-down-your-throat style of basketball was just too much for Colfax who had been jostling for the lead for the entire ballgame. Colfax Junior Chase Mosier had other thoughts. Just as the Falcon faithful were getting disheartened and about to throw in the towel, Chase came flying in. He scored on an old fashioned three-point play, had a layup swatted, only to have it called goaltending. There are five points right there. A glimmer of hope once again began to channel through the Falcon fans and this turned into a lot more than a glimmer as Chase took control and drilled a three to bring the Falcon’s within one possession of being tied. The glimmer of hope had turned into more of a river and the Falcon’s knuckled down and tried to hold the Crusaders.

It was not to be. The Crusaders lit up at the free throw line as the Falcon offense stalled and completely died. The Crusaders drilled six of their last eight free throw attempts to ice the game and to win the D-4 Section championship.

The Falcons who were led by Mosier’s 21 points and who also had four other players in double figures simply could not hang on against the break-neck pace of the Crusaders. The season is far from over for both of these teams, however. The Falcon’s will play Tuesday for the Northern California tournament opener and so though the mood was that of disappointment at Arco on Saturday, it was not one of dismay as the Falcons are ready to rebound in a big way and keep their magical season moving forward as they war for the Nor Cal Championship!