The Foothills Falcons were undermanned during overtime of the 2A South Central Zone Senior boys basketball final on the weekend.
The Falcons had four of their starters sitting on the bench after fouling out in their 98-96 overtime loss to the Bert Church Chargers in the final on March 10 in Airdrie.
Watching from the bench was a disappointing way to end a high-school career for Falcons captain Tyler Grigor.
“It was a tough way to go out,” Grigor said. “The whole team was kind of upset… We knew it was going to be a tough game because it’s a tough place to play and then we got into foul trouble.”
Foothills Falcons’ coach Amron Gwilliam said his team came up against a Charger squad playing at the top of their game.
“I thought we played hard but we were just average, not particularly well,” Gwilliam said. “I think Bert Church probably had one of their best games of the year.”
The Falcons got sidetracked when they got in foul trouble early in the game.
“We had all five our starters going into the halftime with at least two fouls,” he said. “Then in the second half Ray (Falcons leading scorer, six-foot-six Ray Goff) got three fouls called on him in a span of about three minutes.
“I actually had a sub waiting at the table to go in for Ray when he got his last foul. That was a huge loss for us. He is the best player on the floor. In a 45-minute game, we only had him for about 15 minutes, usually he would be out there for 35 minutes.”
The Falcons were down 42-33 at halftime. However, they were able to battle back to lead by two when Goff fouled out. The gritty Falcons hung in there despite players fouling out like they were dropping from the plague.
“Taner Parrington played great in place of Ray,” Gwilliam said.
The Grade 11 Parrington would hit a free throw with just seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 85-85 to force overtime.
Foothills was leading by one at 96-95 with approximately 30 seconds left when the Chargers’ Cole Leavitt hit a jump shot to take a 97-96 lead.
The Falcons missed a shot on their next trip down the floor and the Chargers snared the rebound. Foothills was forced to foul. The Chargers hit a free throw to make it 98-96 with two seconds left. The Falcons were unable to get a shot off in the dying seconds.
Foothills had starters Joss Engen, Goff, Grigor and Jamie Derochie sitting on the bench after fouling out by the time the game ended.
Grigor was the Falcons’ leading scorer with 19 points. Parrington finished with 16 points. Noah Wilkie had 14 points for the Falcons.
The Falcons had their opportunities. They missed 19 free throws and Gwilliam said they had too many turnovers.
Chargers coach Michael Sera said his team’s strategy was to cut down on their turnovers.
“I told our guys Foothills is aggressive on the defence and is looking for the steal,” Sera said. “I told them we can’t wait for the ball you have to go get it. We then worked the ball looking for the shot.”
It was the last high school game for five Foothills Falcons as Taylor Brooks, Taylor Orr, Grigor, Goff and Engen are graduating. However, the future looks bright for Foothills.
“We’re definitely going to miss those guys they are big holes to fill,” Gwilliam said. “But we’re excited we had three Grade 10s on our team (Jamie Derochie, Noah Wilkie and Austin Orr) and they got to play a lot and they will continue to improve.”
Grade 11 veterans Parrington and Armsworthy will also be back.
As for the seniors, some of them will be playing in the South Central Zone all-star game on March 21 at Foothills Composite High School.
