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No. 12 to # 1 in Vt. By Nathan McShinsky It was an amazing end to an amazing playoff run. The shoe did fit and the #12 Royals pulled off their fourth upset of the playoffs to win their second D-III State Championship in three years. There was a sign at the Barre Aud that said, "Cinderella Is Wearing Blue & Gold To The Royal Ball." That couldn't have been more true as the Royals made history on Saturday night as they became the lowest seed ever to win the Vermont state title in any division. This however wasn't an easy journey to complete, as the Royals first knocked off #5 BFA-Fairfax by two, 51-49 with a jump shot with 2.9 left in the game. Then in the quarters they beat #4 Twin Valley 68-62 at Brattleboro after trailing by four with two minutes to play. In the Semifinals SoRo upset #8 Lake Region with a top-of-the-key three pointer, with 18.9 to play. Fittingly the Royals played in a tight game in the Championship as well. The Royals beat the Thetford Panthers, seeded sixth, 41-38 and it again came down to the final buzzer before the Royals could start celebrating the championship. The Royals won this championship without starting guard Peter Doyle-Braman, and in all fairness the Panthers were also short two of their key players. For six seniors it was the last high school basketball game that they would ever compete in as a South Royalton Royal—and boy did they go out in style. For years to come Nick Enright, Peter Doyle-Braman, Darren Slack, Nate McShinsky, Chris Chapman, and Dale Manning earned bragging rights as they won their last high school basketball game, the 2007 state championship. The Royals entered the playoffs below .500 at 9-10 after losing the last two regular season games, and with the four-game playoff run they ended the season 13-10. They took each game one by one, each quarter one by one, and actually took it to the point where SoRo took two minutes at a time. "If we win two minutes, it buys us two more minutes, and on and on," said Coach Moreno. The championship game took many different turns and was back and forth with neither team taking command. The biggest lead for either team was just seven points. The game final got under way with the Royals winning the tip-off, and scored off the first possession and then took a 6-2 lead with 3:51 to play. But Thetford ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to finish the first ahead. In the second quarter SoRo spread out their scoring among five players and added 11 points to the board. Thetford was only able to master 10 points in the quarter, as the game was turning into a defensive battle. The Royals and Panthers traded baskets, but the game went scoreless from the 4:45 mark until the Royals scored with 1:29 left. This brought SoRo back within three, 19-16. Twelve seconds later Enright hit a trey to tie the score at 19 apiece. The Panthers responded when Travis Godfrey hit a pair from the strip to give them a 21-19 lead at the half. After the 10-minute halftime the third quarter got underway and along with it came a wave of momentum from South Royalton, as they used their defense to its full potential, holding the Panthers to just four points. During the final 4:45 of the third period the Royals went on a 9-0 run to catch up and then go ahead by five, 30-25.. The Royals scored all of their 11 third quarter points in the final 5:15. The crowds for both sides were really getting into it and it was shaping up to be a great run to the finish. In the final eight minutes of play the Royals’ offense stayed as they put up another 11-point quarter. The defense wasn’t as strong though, and Thetford put up their biggest point total of the night with 13. The Royals scored first off of an Enright jump shot, then Thetford scored with an old-fashioned three-point play to bring it to 32-28. Both teams hit shots from the line, before the Panthers hit two to bring the lead to one, 34-33 with 4:00 to play. The Royals answered 30 seconds later with two of their own. With just over 2:15 to play Enright got in the paint for a lay-up before Thetford answered with a Jason Gray put-back, for a score of 38-35. So with 2:05 left it was exactly what the Royals had been playing for throughout the playoffs, two minutes at a time. All they had to do was win these two minutes and they were going to be state champions. For the next 50 seconds no one scored, but then the Panthers hit a floater from the paint, bringing the lead back to one. Nine seconds later Joey Kinnarney found himself at the line for SoRo with two shots. He shot 1-2 and the Royals had a two-point lead with a minute to go. Thetford’s last point brought them back to within one with 40 seconds to play, 39-38. After both teams took turns going to the line and coming up empty, it was still a one-point game until the Panthers were forced to foul. They fouled Enright, the Royals’ leader, with 3.2 seconds on the clock. Enright cashed in on both of his freebies, giving him his 20th and 21st points of the game, and his team the three-point lead, 41-38. A last-second desperation pass was picked off by SoRo's Cal Wilmot. With that the Royals stormed the court and the celebration was under way in "Upset City." Enright led the way for the Royals with 21, eight in the final quarter as the senior went out in style. Gray led the Panthers with 13. After the celebration, the awards ceremony, and the cutting down of the nets the Royals were on their way back to South Royalton for the Royal Parade. After they reached their exit, they could see the town fire truck waiting for the bus with its lights and sirens on. Once they reached the truck the parade was underway. Cars for as long as you could see were beeping their horns and had their four-way flashers on. The town, yelling and screaming, was waiting around the Royalton green when the truck and bus pulled across the bridge. The South Royalton Royals were the 2007 Division III Basketball State Champions. ____________ |
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