L’Observateur / March 22, 2000

The young athletes of the River Parishes continue to do their community proud. In this latest instance, West St. John High School’s Rams and St.James High School’s Wildcats each battled from behind to win state basketball titles last weekend. Also participating in the Top 28tournament held in Lafayette was Reserve Christian School.

This was the first time three River Parishes teams participated at the same time in the state basketball tournament, and it was also the first time two River Parishes teams returned home with top honors.

West St. John, coached by Antoine Edwards, took on Coushatta Friday night.From the start it was the Rams’ game, only slipping behind at one part but coming back to take the Class 2A title, 84-71.

That championship trophy will look good next to the football team’s state championship trophy from the 1999 season.

West St. John also has the distinction of being the first River Parishesteam to win a state basketball title. But the lone status didn’t last toolong.

Saturday night it was time for St. James High, coached by Lionel Ezidore,to take to the court against St. Bernard High. Again, it was a come-from-behind situation and again it was the local team to overcome that deficit to take a 66-65 squeaker win and the Class 3A title.

One more distinction marked this championship weekend – each team won with grace, sportsmanship and a strong sense of teamwork and shared honor. No one wanted to point at any stars, but all felt proud of theirteam’s achievements.

As anyone knows who has been on a state championship team, no matter what sport, it’s based on individual hard work, discipline, a measure of good fortune and teamwork. What makes this even more special is thatboth St. James High and West St. John High won while proving themselvesas athletes and gentlemen.

The teams exhibited none of the cockiness and poor taste sometimes attributed to so-called “champions.” Instead, the players were excellentexamples of the best young men our communities produce.

Reserve Christian also has nothing to be ashamed of, as few could equal their accomplishment in making it to the semi-finals, and they came away with their heads high.

While we hope this will not be the highlight of their lives, we also hope this will be the first step toward long, successful lives for each team member where these championships are but stepping stones.

Congratulations to all three River Parishes teams which made it to the Top 28 Tournament, and especially to our new champions.

– L’Observateur

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