Legendary Pirates returned to SCHS to be honored for winning the state championship 10 years ago for boys varsity basketball. On Feb. 14 a few of the players from that game returned to our school where they were honored for being the first team to win state since 1957. 

One of the people who came to this honoring ceremony was Casey Teson, who experienced a whirlwind of emotions as he stepped into his old stomping grounds. Ten years ago during the state championship game, Teson and the rest of his team were down 21 points in the third quarter, but with sheer determination and skill they managed to secure the first state title in the last 58 years.

“It was definitely probably one of the most memorable just because we were down by 21 points in third quarter, and just fighting back you know with our guys is something that is hard not to be memorable,” Teson said.

Another man experiencing all kinds of emotions was the team’s very own coach, Rick Foster. Foster has still kept in touch with several members of his old team, even meeting up for lunch once in a while, and sometimes playing pick up games with them in the gym. According to Foster, when he saw the boys who he had spent four years coaching, standing in the gym with jerseys in hand and championship rings on their fingers, all of the good memories and feelings from 10 years ago came flooding back to him. 

“[it] brought back the memories of the challenges along the way and the successes,”     Foster said. “The little things like comments/conversations on the bus or the hotel or the summer before. The work those boys put in, the sacrifices of time and effort they put in to accomplish a state championship.”

According to Ben Owens, the school’s activities director, every 10, 20, 25 years the school likes to honor students and teams who have brought success and pride to the school. The 2015 boys varsity basketball team is one of many groups honored and celebrated by our school and our community, in fact just a few years ago was the 40-year anniversary of the football team’s state championship back in 1982.

“Every once in a while as time goes on we want to recognize those people and bring them back to the community,” Owens said.