Daily News Sports Editor
MADISON – Germantown’s Zak Showalter
might’ve seen his second-grade self looking back at him from that bright and
shiny gold ball Saturday night.
For the first time in school history,
Germantown hoisted the coveted gold ball high into the air after beating
Milwaukee Rufus King, 72-69, in an edge-of-your-seat thriller in the Wisconsin
Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 1 state championship game at the
Kohl Center.
“I’m so proud of my guys,” said an
elated, but exhausted Steve Showalter, Germantown’s head coach.
After the trophy ceremony on the Kohl
Center court, Zak Showalter, who said Friday he’d been dreaming of winning a
state title since he was in second grade, carried the state championship trophy
into the media interview room. He placed it to his right on the table at which
he sat. Then the child within him came out.
A couple times, the senior stared at the
gold ball, looking at his reflection and likely seeing more than 10 years of
hard work looking back at him.
“This is indescribable,” he said. “This
is the best feeling I’ve ever felt in my life. We’ve worked so hard for this.
So many practices since we were in fifth grade. So much sweat, so much blood,
so many battles. All 15 of us, this is just a dream come true.”
Moments earlier, Showalter stood atop the
stage underneath the basket in front of a big Germantown student section,
looked down at the medal which was now draped around his neck and said one
word: “Wow.”
Germantown did it. The Warhawks were
finally state champion.
“This is straight up the best feeling in
my life,” junior Luke Fischer said. “I’m so proud of everyone. We worked so
hard. It finally paid off with that gold ball.”
The Warhawks finished 28-0 - the 43rd
team in state history to finish undefeated, but first in Division 1 since 2006
(Oshkosh West). However, the 28th victory was by far the toughest.
“Wow,” Steve Showalter said. “I have to
give King a lot of credit. They’re pretty good; they’re really good.
“They’re small, but they’re tough and
they shot so well.”
The Generals (24-2) had two attempts at a
miracle shot just miss in the final six seconds in hopes of going to overtime.
It was two heart-stopping moments that had more than 12,000 people on the edge
of their seats for another classic state championship game.
“When the first three went up, I just
prayed in my mind it was going to be long or short, something,” Fischer said.
“After the ball tipped around a little bit, I thought the buzzer was going to
go off; I thought the six seconds were up.
“When I saw (King’s Nic Stokes) shoot up
that desperation three, my heart just stopped for a second. Thank God that
buzzer sounded and that ball missed.”
Zak Showalter added, “That ball was just
in the air forever. I was just praying to God, ‘Please bounce out, don’t go
in.’ We’ve worked so hard for this. Just one time, just miss one shot.”
Showalter attributed a tough loss in last
year’s “Super Tuesday” loss to Appleton East where a similar sequence of events
happened, but didn’t go Germantown’s way.
On Saturday night, Germantown or King,
playing in its first state title game since 2004, couldn’t distance itself from
the other. King’s largest lead was seven points with 1:41 left in the first
quarter, while Germantown’s biggest lead was eight points with 7:15 left in the
third.
“It was a beast trying to handle (the
pressure),” Steve Showalter said. “Every trip up the floor was a war, every
trip, the whole night.
“Just getting the ball from the other end
to the top of the key on our end, it was like a whole practice just to do that.
Once we got it there, I thought now we’re OK. It was like I had to watch my
breath, just watching the guys get the ball down the court.”
The tension finally relaxed when the
buzzer sounded, ending the game. Showalter threw his arms up in the air while
his team celebrated at half court.
“I hope the morning never comes,” he said
when asked about what he planned to do Sunday morning, a day after winning the
state championship. “It’s better than I could have ever imagined. It’s the most
amazing thing that we’ve ever experienced.”
Then Showalter, who is in his 12th season with
Germantown, looked over at his son and recalled the days of bouncing his little
boy on his knee.
“We’ve sat in those seats out there every
year since I can remember,” he recalled. “And he sat on my lap for a while;
then got his own seat. It’s not just about this game and this day. It’s about
the whole thing we’ve experienced together.”
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