Losing a game in the semifinals is heart wrenching, but having to withdraw without ever touching the court is indescribable.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s what Archbishop Riordan High School\u2019s Men\u2019s basketball team had to deal with as they were amidst bringing a championship to their school.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that reality was taken away from them due to the coronavirus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On March 5, they had beaten Vanden High School at home in the quarter finals, which set them up to play against De La Salle at home on Saturday March 7 in the semi-finals of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At that point, COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, was in its early stages and San Francisco didn\u2019t announce or have any reported cases of the virus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Crusaders had all the momentum coming into Saturday\u2019s game against the Spartans, being the No. 1 seed with a 23-5 record and having home court advantage throughout the playoffs. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo doubt in my mind that no one could beat us, no matter who it was,\u201d said Bryce Monroe, Senior and Captain of the Men\u2019s Varsity Basketball team.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, they wouldn\u2019t even get a chance to step on the court when they got notified on game day that a parent of one of the students had tested positive for the coronavirus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bob Greene, one of the Athletic Directors at the school, told the team they had to cancel the game against De La Salle and push it back to March 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt the time we were just upset, like when are we going to play?\u201d said Je\u2019Lani Clark, one of the other captains on the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That Saturday afternoon to Monday morning, it was just a whirlwind of emotions and anxiety from the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reality was setting in, that the season could be derailed from the coronavirus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, head coach Joey Curtin got the news they weren\u2019t going to play anymore due to a student at the school testing positive and they had been removed from the state playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was a big blow,\u201d said Curtin. He let the team know via group text Monday morning saying the season was over.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMonday morning, I woke up to a text saying the season is over and I was so mad I just went back to sleep and I woke up to 18 missed calls, everybody was hitting me up,\u201d said Clark.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clark just couldn\u2019t believe it and didn\u2019t think the season was going to be cancelled. He thought his team was going to end up playing De La Salle.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe just felt like we were cheated,\u201d said Clark. \u201cOur season got taken away but they got to play.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clark felt the school didn\u2019t try their hardest to think of another plan for the team to continue to play.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He felt like they just moved on. He wished the season didn\u2019t end the way it did because the team worked so hard and did everything in their power to make sure this season was going to be the best.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe sacrificed for the team so much, we did so much just to win,\u201d said Clark. \u201cOur main focus was making our teammates happy and the school proud and the community proud too. Every home game I felt like there was someone new watching us. We just started building a new crowd.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his 13 years of coaching at Riordan, Curtin knew this was a special group of young men. And now they will never experience playing together again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was just heartbreaking,\u201d said Monroe, when he found out the season was over. He took the news really hard, just coming to the grip that his high school career was over.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monroe wasn\u2019t just affected mentally but emotionally as well. \u201cThe next couple of days I [kept] to myself, I didn\u2019t work out and I was really going through my own emotions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most frustrating thing the team couldn\u2019t comprehend though, was the fact that De Salle got to advance and play in the CIF NorCal Division I Championship. Only to lose against Campolindo, a team the Crusaders had previously beat in the regular season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CIF eventually cancelled the entire playoffs but only after Campolindo were crowned NorCal Champs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t get how my team didn\u2019t get to play when none of us had corona,\u201d said Monroe.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monroe understands the school was trying to protect and save lives from the coronavirus, but believes the right call should have been for the CIF to cancel everybody\u2019s season. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy little sister teared up with me because she knows how much I love basketball,\u201d Monroe said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe just wanted to play,\u201d Clark said. \u201cUs playing at home we just felt so confident like no one could beat us. We were creating our own legacy and wanted to end on a good note.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the season wasn\u2019t cancelled, Clark believes they could have won the state championship. They just had the feeling that nothing could have stopped them mentally, they found their rhythm, playing the best basketball they ever played.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy mom definitely felt for me,\u201d Clark said. \u201cMy family knows how serious this game is for me and how I want to make a living out of it. Basketball is a part of me. When you don\u2019t have it, you start looking yourself in the mirror and \u2018think what I am going to do now mentality.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four days after the season was canceled, the team was supposed to meet for a team dinner, but all the restaurants were closed. It was just killing them that they couldn\u2019t see each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Crusaders were vying for their first state championship in 20 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis group wasn\u2019t your typical good high school team, they had really high talent level, big personalities, a mix of young men that were really passionate about the game and the school, and I think people will remember them no matter what,\u201d Curtin said. \u201cThat\u2019s something I told them to take to heart and take with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An award banquet dinner is scheduled sometime in the future to celebrate the season the Crusaders had. Graduation ceremonies, for the moment, have been pushed back to June 27.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
*Editor\u2019s note: Diego Felix is a journalism students in SF State\u2019s Journalism 575 Community Media this spring. Taught by professor Jon Funabiki, the class is a collaboration with El Tecolote. Losing a game in the semifinals is heart wrenching, but having to withdraw without ever touching the court is indescribable.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Archbishop Riordan High […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":43815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[18556,18588],"coauthors":[18445],"class_list":["post-43814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-en","tag-covid-19-en","tag-jour-575","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n