There is the scolding, the stomping, and the never-ending stream of substitutions.
Then, there’s the hugging (so tightly), the trust, and the instructions for the players.
And the celebrations.
Friday night at home, Potomac Falls’ boys basketball team claimed its fourth Potomac District title in a row with a 56-41 win over Riverside.
The Panthers (19-5) have won 12 games in a row and will host a Region 5 tournament game on Wednesday. Riverside (13-11) advances as well.
Potomac Falls raced to a 14-0 lead for its endlessly animated coach Jeff Hawes.
Hawes said he could tell his team was ready when he walked into the locker room before warm-ups.
“There was no doubt from the get-go that this game was ours,” said Hawes, in his 36th year of coaching. “Once we get ahead by eight or 10 points, we’re hard to beat.”
Junior Colby Margenau (14 points) was part of the early domination, with seven points and two blocked shots. His three-point play and three-pointer in the opening minutes set the tone.
“Colby has been great for us lately, the sky’s the limit for him,” Hawes said.
The Rams missed their first nine shots from the field and only once cut their deficit to single digits at 16-8. “The plan was to constantly disrupt things,” Hawes said.
The pressure defense forced Riverside to shoot quickly as Potomac Falls consistently closed out effectively on defense.
These Panthers began the year with only six players back (no starters) from last year’s team.
“The coaches get us ready for every game,” Margenau said. “We went out there and worked harder and wanted it more. [Coach] has been doing it for so many years – win, win, win.”
Late in the game, this was more than evident when a Panther was shooting a free throw with four Rams lined up to rebound and no teammate. Nonetheless, he got the offensive rebound on his miss to keep the possession alive.
Ahead 28-17 at the break, teammate Joshua Prince was a key part of the second half. He had four steals and scored nine points in the third quarter and finished with 15.
“We came out wanting to get that get-back,” said Prince, whose team’s only district loss during the regular season was to Riverside, 68-62, on Jan. 10.
“We kept our foot on the gas pedal and kept talking to each other on the floor,” Prince said. “The goal was to stop their ‘bigs’ from getting the ball in the paint by playing good ‘help’ defense and disrupting things as we have all season.”
This season didn’t begin particularly well, with Potomac Falls going just 7-5 in its first 12 games.
“I kept telling my kids to trust the system,” Hawes said. “I promised them that it’s going to work.”
Hawes used his typical free-flowing substitution pattern Friday, involving nearly his entire bench.
“We trust the coaches’ decisions,” Prince said.
Hawes said this is his program’s culture.
“The kids believe in their coaches,” he said. “They all know how important they are to the program. They might only get in for 30 seconds at a time, but they’re put in there to make a play. They are all invested in what we’re trying to do.”
Hawes said the gameplan Friday was to contain Tai Schaefer. “He’s where their momentum comes from,” Hawes said.
Schaefer scored six first-half points and none in the second. Connor Stredrick added eight. Jaden Frazier was held to four points, his only field goal coming with two minutes left in the game. Gali Thomas, who paced Riverside in its win at Potomac Falls earlier, went scoreless.
The Panthers have now won 15 district titles since 2004. It most recently won the region in 2019 and 2020 and has six region titles overall.
–Paul Bergeron
@PaulBergeron3
Very nice recap, great atmosphere last night. Fun team to watch. Go Panthers!