The varsity basketball season tipped off last weekend for our boys and girls round ball teams here at Lititz Christian School (LCS). Both teams were involved in a tournament at Mt Calvary Christian School out in Elizabethtown. We opened on Friday nights with our guys and gals each playing the Bobcats of Bible Baptist Christian School. Both of these matches were intense and exciting.
Our girls had only six players dressed for the game. I counted no less than twenty girls who were dressed to play for Bible Baptist. This meant that the Bobcats would be able to sub in and out liberally and keep all of their players fresh while most of our girls would be playing the entire game with no breathers. As I looked at the roster I also noticed that the Bobcats had two players that were 5’11” and one player at 5’10”. The Lady Eagles do not have one player on their team that is taller than 5’5”. Bible Baptist jumped out to an 8-0 lead but our girls never gave up. With just over 2 minutes left in the game, the Lady Eagles took their first lead. Down the stretched they had a chance to put the Bobcats away but missed four key free throws within the last 30 seconds of the game. In the end, Bible Baptist hit a shot at the buzzer to win the game. The Lady Eagles did bounce back on Saturday defeating York Country Day to win third place in the tourney.
The varsity boy’s game was just as entertaining. The Bobcat starters were almost all Seniors and took a 7-point lead over the Eagles into the locker room at halftime. The third period also belonged to Bible Baptist as they built their lead to double-digits. However, the Eagles stepped up the defensive intensity in the final period causing multiple turnovers. They also hit some key shots from the charity stripe and made some huge defensive stands in the final seconds of the game to come away with a 1-point victory. LCS lost in the championship game to Mt Calvary on Saturday but came home with the tournament’s second place trophy and a 1-1 record to start the regular season.
Now comes the good part. I love sports and I love to be intense about my teams. I have often said (to the chagrin of our School Administrator and Athletic Director) that I wish our fans would be even more rowdy. At Liberty, it was always Dr Falwell that would get the students fired up at the games by standing up and banging on the air-condition ducts. I also love rivalries and the mental games that make sports fun on and off the court. As I was perusing the website of the host school for the tournament, I realized that long before the tournament ever started they had already penciled in their team playing Bible Baptist on Saturday. In other words, they were so sure that we would lose to the Bobcats on Friday night that they had already written us off on their schedule. Now, as someone who loves rivalries, I can appreciate this “jab” – yes, even among Christians (I only wish I had thought of it first). But it was my joy as the clock hit 0:00 and we had secured our victory against Bible Baptist, sending us into the tournament championship game against Mt Calvary (in contrast to their website), to start the following chant from the stands:
“CHANGE YOUR WEBSITE…clap, clap, clap-clap-clap!”
Our girls had only six players dressed for the game. I counted no less than twenty girls who were dressed to play for Bible Baptist. This meant that the Bobcats would be able to sub in and out liberally and keep all of their players fresh while most of our girls would be playing the entire game with no breathers. As I looked at the roster I also noticed that the Bobcats had two players that were 5’11” and one player at 5’10”. The Lady Eagles do not have one player on their team that is taller than 5’5”. Bible Baptist jumped out to an 8-0 lead but our girls never gave up. With just over 2 minutes left in the game, the Lady Eagles took their first lead. Down the stretched they had a chance to put the Bobcats away but missed four key free throws within the last 30 seconds of the game. In the end, Bible Baptist hit a shot at the buzzer to win the game. The Lady Eagles did bounce back on Saturday defeating York Country Day to win third place in the tourney.
The varsity boy’s game was just as entertaining. The Bobcat starters were almost all Seniors and took a 7-point lead over the Eagles into the locker room at halftime. The third period also belonged to Bible Baptist as they built their lead to double-digits. However, the Eagles stepped up the defensive intensity in the final period causing multiple turnovers. They also hit some key shots from the charity stripe and made some huge defensive stands in the final seconds of the game to come away with a 1-point victory. LCS lost in the championship game to Mt Calvary on Saturday but came home with the tournament’s second place trophy and a 1-1 record to start the regular season.
Now comes the good part. I love sports and I love to be intense about my teams. I have often said (to the chagrin of our School Administrator and Athletic Director) that I wish our fans would be even more rowdy. At Liberty, it was always Dr Falwell that would get the students fired up at the games by standing up and banging on the air-condition ducts. I also love rivalries and the mental games that make sports fun on and off the court. As I was perusing the website of the host school for the tournament, I realized that long before the tournament ever started they had already penciled in their team playing Bible Baptist on Saturday. In other words, they were so sure that we would lose to the Bobcats on Friday night that they had already written us off on their schedule. Now, as someone who loves rivalries, I can appreciate this “jab” – yes, even among Christians (I only wish I had thought of it first). But it was my joy as the clock hit 0:00 and we had secured our victory against Bible Baptist, sending us into the tournament championship game against Mt Calvary (in contrast to their website), to start the following chant from the stands:
“CHANGE YOUR WEBSITE…clap, clap, clap-clap-clap!”
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