Blood, Sweat and Tears
"Aside from something tragic, it was the most agonizing 21 seconds of my life!"
Coach Moore
"If State Championships were easy, everybody would have one..."
Coach Goodman
"Anything worth having is going to come with heartfelt consequences"
Coach Moore
When the final horn sounded on Saturday's Group A State Finals game, one team stormed center court at the Siegel Center while another proudly watched with dimmed eyes. Moments later the VHSL State Runner Up Trophy was presented to the Twin Valley Panthers as they fell victim to the Clarke County Eagles 51 to 49.
It what must be considered a classic finish, the Clarke County Eagles, trailing 49 to 48 deflected a Twin Valley pass, made one of their own and hit a driving layup with 12.6 seconds remaining in the game. Chandler Rhoades, the 5'10" Clarke County guard was fouled on the play and went to the line to complete the 3 point play. Rhoades who finished the game with 27 points scorched the Twin Valley zone in the first half with several key baskets. The biggest one perhaps coming with 4 seconds remaining in the 2nd quarter. Rhoades took a Twin Valley miss and pushed the ball the length of the court and sank a 3 pointer giving the Eagles a 3 point halftime advantage. "The kid made a great play at the end of the first half and an even greater play at the end of the game, he deserves to be the MVP.." said Coach Moore.
The Panthers despite the loss proved to be more than worthy of their position in the state finals. Showing resiliency on many occasions the Panthers were forced to match a hot shooting Eagles squad, who had set the state tournament record for 3 pointers in a game, two nights before against Chesterfield Community. Trailing by as many as 11 points midway through the 3rd quarter the Panthers responded with an explosive 18 to 2 run of their own, pushing their lead to 5 points going into the final 5 minutes of the game. "We had 3 or 4 chances to extend the lead and we just weren't able to execute on the offensive end..." said Moore. Clarke County meanwhile began to chip away at the Panther lead.
Following an inbound basket for Clarke, which cut the Panther lead to 3, the Panthers missed the front end of a 1 and 1 situation, giving Clarke the ball back and time for one more basket. The Eagles managed to hit a short jumper which cut the lead to 1. Following a timeout Clarke County decided to trap the first pass and attempt to create enough havoc to force a Twin Valley turnover. The Panthers called a timeout with 21:9 seconds remaing which set up the game ending drama. "It wasn't anything we haven't seen before, they just made a great play, they double teamed the pall jumped the passing lane, deflected the pass and got the layup..."said Moore. The pass was deflected by Waters who executed a nice pass to Chandler Rhoades who drove left and banked in a 4 footer with K.T. Vandyke hustling to block the shot. The basket and the following free throw would give Clarke the final margin of victory, 2 points.
In the final seconds of the game the Panthers saw two passes deflected out of bounds leaving only 01: second on the clock, the final desperation heave by Garrett Horne was wide left thusly ending the Panthers hopes for a state title. The loss was only the third loss of the season for Twin Valley who was on a 25 game win streak, the Panthers ended the season 26 and 3, completing the most successful season in school history.
Following the game both players and coaches were visibly upset and dissapointed, forgetting for a little while just how wonderful this season has been. "We are so caught up in the moment that we seem to have forgotten how wonderful this run has been, this is a great group of kids and as much as I would have liked to have won, knowing these kids and working with them is worth more than a state title, it's a blessing and I consider myself very fortunate..." said Moore.
