A Foothills Falcon found out what it is like to come home during the 4A South Central Zone Senior boys basketball playdowns last week.
With 45 seconds remaining in the Falcons’ 114-78 victory over the Bert Church Chargers on March 6, Falcon Hunter Karl was sitting on the bench at Foothills High School when he heard a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” from the stands commemorating his 17th birthday.
“That was unbelievable — just awesome,” said Karl. “I never expected that.”
The Grade 11 student is back playing hoops in Okotoks after he played his first year of high school for the Chestermere Lakers in 2011-12 because his family had moved out to the hamlet east of Calgary.
“I enjoyed my year at Chestermere and I still have friends there, but I missed it here,” Karl said after the Falcons’ victory.
He had some success with the Chestermere Lakers as the small forward/guard was the Rocky View League rookie of the year and the Lakers were fourth among 3A schools in the province.
However, his heart is in the foothills.
His two older brothers and sister, Kyle, Devan and Chantae Karl, were all Falcons on the hard court. In addition, his brothers and cousins played major roles in the Foothills’ recent football dynasties.
A chance to play with some old friends and having a driver’s licence has Hunter back in the burgundy-and-white of the Foothills Falcons this fall.
“I have been playing basketball with Jamie (Falcons guard Jamie Derochie) since I was seven,” Karl said. “We have great chemistry together. We both seem to know where each other is going. We have had times where the ball seems to be going out of bounds and then one of us will get the ball back to the other.
“I don’t know how it happens.”
That good chemistry turned into some weird science when Karl informed his hoops pal he would be going to Chestermere in the fall of 2011.
“When he left it hit pretty close to home,” Derochie said. “He told me: ‘I’m going to Chestermere and I said: ‘What the heck? We have been playing together since we were kids and we have been waiting for this (to play high school ball) for a long time. I was really upset.”
Good things happen to those who wait. Karl enrolled at the Comp in the fall.
“I think he came back because of the chemistry,” Derochie said. “He played with a lot of us at OJ (Okotoks Junior High School) when we won every game in Grade 9.”
Derochie, the Falcons’ point guard, dishes out passes to his teammates with the precision of a Rolex watch. However, with Karl it’s like the two Falcons are on the same mental wavelength.
“We have been friends since birth and we just have been playing with each other forever,” Derochie said. “We know where the other one is going to be.”
The pair thinks so much alike when Derochie needs to take a breather often Karl is the one who takes over the point guard role.
“I needed a back-up point guard and he does that really well,” Derochie said. “The only difference is speed, I am a little bit more agile.”
Karl is used as the Falcons’ shooting guard or small forward when Derochie is on the floor.
Both Derochie and Karl share one other characteristic. They can pass the ball like they are octopi. The ball seems to come from anywhere — from behind the back, a bounce and maybe through a pair of legs.
Karl admitted he has to rein in the fancy passes now and then.
“Sometimes I try to do way too much — I always go for the home run play,” Karl said with a laugh. “I have been told all my life by coaches to tone it down.”
Falcons coach Amron Gwilliam is glad Karl opted to come back to the Falcon family.
“I was excited to get Hunter back,” Gwilliam said. “I knew he was a good athlete and he shoots and handles the ball well.”
He said the chemistry between he and Derochie is obvious.
“They have likely played more than 100 games together in their lifetime,” Gwilliam said. “You play that many games together you are just going to have great chemistry.”
Karl and Derochie will have at least three more games together as the Falcons will play in the 4A provincials this weekend in Calgary after the Falcons beat the Brooks Buffaloes on Friday night at Foothills.
