Wide-eyed Antelope High takes state hoops tourney by storm

March 3 2011 by Taylah Cosgrove in Education Sport Tips |No Comments

The place is still so sparkling new, you half expect to see packing tape stuck to the corners.

Antelope High School, the pristine 40-acre gem 10 years in the planning, fields its first senior class with achievement across the board academically and athletically. And so much for any theory that it takes basketball programs years of seasoning to taste the big time.

The Titans are on the accelerated path, in high tops and jumpers and in rooting-section roar. With the backdrop of the rowdy rooting section known as “The Red Zone,” Antelope bounds into this weekend’s Sac-Joaquin Section championship chase as the upstart program of the 10 teams that invade Power Balance Pavilion.

Talk about fast learners.

Antelope, seeded fourth among Sac-Joaquin Section Division II boys teams, overcame nerves and an 11-0 deficit to calmly charge back and stun top-seeded and defending champion Woodcreek 62-61 on a last-second score by Jarvis Watkins at Power Balance Pavilion on Tuesday. That set the Red Zone into a frenzy the loudest student support group of the night and it turned the D-II bracket upside down.

Enjoying the view and celebrating all the while was Principal John Becker, decked in school scarlet and gray; activities director Kristin Patten, who was ear-to-ear grins; and Pete LeBlanc, the journalism/yearbook adviser who implored his pupils to soak up the moment and record it, too.

“This has become a school-wide experience, a total blast,” Becker said Thursday. “The kids who weren’t into it earlier this season are into it now. It’s the talk in every classroom ‘What’s the next game, the next cheer?’ “

Antelope was so new to all aspects of competition that coach Rob Richards recalled a meeting with students to go over YouTube videos of area schools doing student chants.

“You know that saying, ‘Act like you’ve been there?’ ” Richards said. “Well, we haven’t been there. We had to show these kids everything: how to play together, rooting ideas. We knew we’d take some lumps last year, but we’ve all bought in. We’re learning as we go, and we just don’t quit.”

In addition to Watkins, Antelope is led by Caleb King, Isiaiah Ellis and John Winters.

Odds and ends on this weekend’s title games

Center is in its third boys title game, losing in 1988 and winning with then-coach Tim Ridge in 2004. Now under coach Ray Gagnon, the Cougars take on two-time defending D-III champion Sacramento tonight.

Center, by the way, is located two miles from Antelope.

Modesto Christian will not compete for a record 14th boys championship after the top seed in D-IV was stunned by No. 4 Amador in a semi- final Wednesday, creating a rematch of the 2007 title game against Colfax. Colfax won titles in 2006 and ’07 and lost to Modesto Christian in ’08 and last season.

The most fatigued coach at Power Balance this week might also emerge as the most proud with a double-dose of winning. Mike Ruble coaches the girls and boys teams at Bradshaw Christian, with each seeking D-V titles today in a back-to-back emotional grinder.

Vanden stunned Sacramento in a girls nonleague game 62-60 on a last-play jumper in December, and now the teams meet again, this time for the D-III title.

Said Sac High coach Michele Massari: “We are not the same team. It’ll be nice to see how much we’ve improved.”

The girls are in their seventh successive final, as are the Sac High boys. Mayor Kevin Johnson, the state’s leading scorer while at Sac High in 1983, is expected to attend.

Learning Centre

Navigate Through Locations to Find Source of Education