Story and photos by Anthony Richards
Two wins, that is all that stands between the Bishop Kenny High boys and girls basketball teams from being state champions.
Both teams took care of business with regional final victories in front of their home fans over the weekend to secure their spots in the class 4A state semifinals.
The girls got things started with a bang as they won a 54-53 nailbiter over Fort Walton Beach High, as the Crusaders grabbed control early and jumped out to a 16-point halftime lead.
However, the visiting Vikings made a run of their own in the second half and closed the gap down the stretch, but it was the Crusaders who made the plays needed in the waning minutes to finish the deal.
Kathleen Crawley and Makala DesJarlais were the offensive catalysts for the Crusaders on the night, as both were on fire shooting the ball from the opening tip.
Crawley finished with a team-high 26 points, including seven three-pointers, while DesJarlais added 14 points and six rebounds and missed only one shot the entire game.
The boys squad followed up the girls’ triumph with one of their own the next night, as they defeated Tallahassee Godby High 54-42.
“We just keep playing our hardest until the end and we just want to do our part to outwork the other team,” senior Jack Lyons said. “This is a relentless group.”
Lyons had the honor of climbing the ladder and cutting down the net as part of the on-court celebration after the victory.
It was a back-and-forth contest with both teams quick to answer scoring runs by the other, and the game remained tied at halftime and headed into the fourth quarter.
A strong final quarter allowed the Crusaders to open up their lead thanks to clutch shot after clutch shot, especially from junior Joe Joseph who knocked down five three-pointers in the second half, each one bringing the crowd to their feet and raising the decibel level in the John A. Baldwin Athletic Center.
“It’s really fun once any of our guys on the team get going and start hitting shots,” Joseph said. “Once you see someone start hitting shots, it just becomes contagious and the whole team feeds off that.”
Fellow junior, Drew Jackson made some big shots early on to help the Crusaders find their rhythm, many of which were the result of him maneuvering through traffic to create an open shot or a lane to the basket.
“From the first practice of the summer to now, we’ve been putting in the work for this moment,” Jackson said.
The magnitude of the win had not yet sunk in for the Crusaders minutes after the buzzer sounded and they hugged and high-fived anybody around them.
“It hasn’t yet, but I feel like it will very soon,” Joseph said.
This year’s FHSAA state basketball championships will be played locally at UNF Arena in Jacksonville, so the teams and fans will not have far to travel to take part.
The girls will play their state semifinal matchup against Plantation American Heritage School on Tuesday, March 10 beginning at 5:30 p.m. followed immediately by the boys’ contest against Port Orange Atlantic High at 7 p.m.
