We Are The Champions.
Courtesy of the Canton Repository:
COLUMBUS —
State championships aren’t easy, and they shouldn’t appear to be, either. Truth be known, the Jackson High School boys basketball team had a tougher time getting through its sectional-district tournament and regional tournament than winning the state tournament.
Mike Fuline reminded his players of this a couple of times this weekend. There wasn’t anything the Polar Bears ought to fear at the state tournament.
Scared?
That was being down 12 points at halftime to Lake in a sectional tournament game, he told them.
Scared?
That was beating North Canton Hoover, for a third time this season, for a district title.
Scared?
That was coming out a little flat against Akron East in the regional semifinal game and surviving two missed layups at the buzzer.
The voyage home for the Polar Bears started Sunday morning and bled into Sunday afternoon. By the time the team caravan turned onto Fulton Drive, sirens from the police escort, fire engine and ambulance — yes, ambulance — echoed off the walls at Jackson High School.
Between 200 and 300 fans scurried into place and lined the sidewalk outside the doors that led the Bears back to their locker room.
A rainy Sunday lightened. The skies took mercy, and just a small spit of rain fell. Everyone needs their moment, and Mother Nature acquiesced.
Finally, Jackson senior Brad DuPont was among the first of the players to appear from the road. With traffic stopped, DuPont hung out of a van window and raised the gold state championship trophy high into the air as the vans rolled into the school’s parking lot.
Horns blared. Sirens wailed. Fans, some in shorts and some wrapped in blankets, screamed and yelled.
This is what a state championship sounds like. Jackson’s boys basketball players earned their hero’s welcome home.
Josh Egner, at 6-foot-6 and the talk of the state tournament for his daring dunks, didn’t need a podium. He and the rest of the players were standing tall already. Still, Egner climbed on top of a van hood parked in front of adoring fans and spoke.
“We want to thank everybody for coming out and supporting us all year,” said Egner, whose mohawk haircut made him a fan favorite in Columbus. “This isn’t possible without this community.”
The coaching staff, sleep deprived but still working on adrenaline, hugged and shook fans’ hands. Their journey home was filled with laughs and stories, as well as memories that will last this team a lifetime.
At 34 years old, Fuline might have another 30 years of coaching. He has reached the pinnacle of a high school coaching career, a place most men never touch. And he knows full well he could spend the next 30 years chasing Value City Arena and another state title. The hours are exhausting. The frustrations endless. The payoff is priceless.
Pure joy and sense of accomplishment in one weekend made it all feel worthwhile.
“Riding down the street with the escort and seeing all those people out here to welcome us back, what we did finally started to sink in for the first time,” Fuline said.
Before Jackson stormed the court Saturday night and overwhelmed Moeller, 57-34, Fuline left his team with a thought.
“In about two hours, you’re going to be state champions,” Fuline told them in a tone that wasn’t as much bold prediction as it was soothing comfort. “It will be the first one in school history. No matter what, our legacy is there. Seriously, mohawk and all, they may put freaking statues of us out there.”
The players laughed.
Then they joined hands one last time and prayed the Lord’s prayer. ... For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen.
When the final syllables of forever and ever hang in a heavy locker room air, there is a dynamic feeling in the air. It’s an aura that can’t be bottled. It’s either there, or it’s not.
Jackson has felt it all season, and never as strong as this past weekend. The Bears were in their zone.
Halftime, though, was precarious. It was clear Jackson was the better team, but it led just 20-15. Fuline implored his team to play defense like never before and they’d win a state title.
“Play defense and we’ll run them off the floor,” he said at halftime.
They did.
Then they drove home sharing memories and laughing all the way up 71 and across 30. Exhilaration let loose on Fulton.
Players and coaches made their way back inside the locker room. Some of them left quickly; a couple stayed around. There was one last game of shower soccer. Coaches signed the bottom of the state trophy, a new ritual that began this season.
Fuline was the last out of his office. He shut off the light and made sure the door was locked.
“This really happened,” he said.
There was one final hug. Dan Fuline, Mike’s father, gave his son one of those Italian bear hugs. Mike cracked a joke. Dan, who has watched his son come through the ranks, had tears in his eyes.
A steady ran fell outside. Nothing will wash away these memories.
JACKSON POLAR BEARS
BOYS' BASKETBALL DIVISION 1 STATE CHAMPIONS
ONS!!!
