By Lenny Dale, Emerson Athletic Director and Physical Education Teacher
The Emerson JV boys suffered their first loss of the season Monday, at the hands of Spiritus Sanctus Ann Arbor. The kids got off to an uncharacteristically shaky start, falling behind 20-8 at the half, and were never able to completely close the gap in a 30-23 final. The varsity gained a measure of revenge for their young brethren, and the only thing that wasn’t characteristic was the absence of team leader Gabe Kellman. The team put up another shutout period, racing out to a 10-0 lead after the first quarter, stretching the lead to 24-7 at the half, and coasting to a 44-26 final.
Tuesday, the JV boys turned things around, taking a page out of the varsity playbook—a shutout quarter. Ahead 8-4 after the first quarter, and maintaining that lead at the half, 12-8, the kids blanked their opponents in the third, pushing the margin to 20-8, then cruising through the fourth to win 30-16. Balanced scoring, another characteristic of the youngsters, was evident again, with 9 different players contributing points, after only 5 did so in Monday’s game. Perhaps the varsity game from the day before served as a reminder—the older kids got scoring from 8 players, and kept all but 3 of their opponents off the score sheet.
The boys have their final regular season home games next week, hosting Steiner on Monday and Ann Arbor Christian on Tuesday.