The Perfect Season

The Perfect Season

We were trailing by one, 53-54. We had the ball. 11 seconds remained. Coach Kekoa called a timeout to calm us down and set up the final play of the game. Our perfect, undefeated season was on the line. Everything we had worked so hard for all season was on the line. We were about to be tested after all of the preparation we put in for this exact moment. Dylan, our player of the game who had 18 points, was sitting on the sidelines after injuring his eye and being physically unable to play any more. He had done more than his part to get us this far, and it was our job to pull this one out for him, our coaches, our parents, our fans, and the rest of our teammates. Noah, Taylor, Kaiwi, Josh, and I stepped on to the floor for the last eleven seconds of our season, and our JV careers, hoping for a miracle. Five best friends, three captains, four shooters, and five teammates chosen to lead the team in this situation. I was honored to be on the court with my four brothers, and wanted to do everything in my power to get the win. For all of the sophomores on the team, we had never had an undefeated season since 7th grade, despite winning two championships in 7th and 8th grade. I wanted the win for my fellow sophomores. I wanted the win for our coach who coached us for three years, and wanted to give him another championship. I wanted the win for my teammates last year, who joined myself and others in our championship loss to Kamehameha a year before. Now, we were in almost an identical situation, playing Kamehameha again, just a different five chosen to carry the team to victory. I wanted the win for my teammates, who I felt that I let down, when turning the ball over with eighteen seconds left and thinking to myself that we had lost for sure and it was all my fault. However, we were still in the game. With new life in my heart and by deleting the turnover from my memory, I was ready if I needed to take the final shot.

The referee handed me the ball and blew his whistle. I checked off my options, and threw the ball into Noah. Our plan was to get the ball into the corner to Taylor, so that he could drive baseline and either score or look to kick the ball out to shooters on the perimeter. Taylor was covered however, so Noah pulled up from long range and fired a three-pointer. The entire Punahou crowd, Kamehameha crowd and marching band, and I held our breaths. The ball bounced off the right side of the rim, into the outstretched arms of 6'5 Josh Taylor on our team. With five seconds remaining on the clock, he seized control of the ball, and put up a mid-range jumper right over a defender. Nothing but net! The crowd went wild! Kamehameha had no timeouts left, so they inbounded the ball, I immediately jumped on the ball-handler, and forced a bad pass downcourt, which was stolen by none other than Josh! Time expired, and our team, fans, cheerleaders, and parents rushed the court in the happiest celebration in my entire life! A 55-54 victory, and a perfect season was ours, after fighting so hard for 32 minutes and an entire season. When the buzzer sounded, we practically had a team dog-pile on the court, and high fives, hugs, and kisses were rapidly traveling through the crowd of Punahou fans. We had done it. Josh was the team hero, but all of us did our parts throughout the year in contributing to our amazing season. That team was the closest and best team I have ever played for, and I am so thankful that I had the chance to play the sport I love with my best friends in the whole world for the best school in the country. Jubiliation filled the air and happiness flowed thru my body. The perfect ending to the perfect team and the perfect season.