EAGLES WIN!

A tired-but-happy DPCA Eagles Basketball team is number one! Back row Micah Ritschard, Noah Ritschard, Coach Toll, Hawk White, Seth Turner. Front row Jase Staudt, Nathan Van Deel, Juan Burdick.

In a contest that got too close for comfort for Eagles fans, a short-handed, 7-man  DPCA varsity boys basketball squad won the B division of the Front Range Christian Athletic Association state tournament on Saturday, March 2, 2013.  Though the Eagles were in the lead at the end of each quarter, the 51-40 final score belies the fact that the much-larger Front Range Baptist Falcons team
 narrowed the Eagle's lead to just one point as the 4th quarter unfolded.

Team captain and senior Micah Ritschard led the scoring for the afternoon, with 23 total points. Sophomore Hawk White and Micah's younger brother Noah Ritschard were close behind with 10 and 11 points, while Jase Staudt contributed a crucial 5, and Seth Turner made a critical bucket near the beginning of the game that forced a change in the Falcon's defense. Consistently strong Eagle defense during the contest helped keep the Falcons off-balance through much of the game.

The team shows off their trophy back home. That tall one is the center back row is Joel Parker, who was a key player in helping the Eagles get to the championship game. (And what IS Coach looking at?)

First quarter play saw the Eagles in the lead by three after Turner's early outside goal startled the Falcon defense and created openings for White and the Ritschard brothers to start getting points on the board. Despite missing key player Joel Parker, who was unable to play in the championship, the Eagles had expanded their lead to ten points by half-time. By the end of the third quarter with the ten-point lead still in place and the Eagles playing well, it looked like the game was theirs.  A Falcon rally led by 3-point shooter Kevin Risma put that lead in jeopardy until at 41-40, with just a few minutes left on the clock, Eagles fans were feeling the heat. Pressured by a strong DPCA defense and the clock, the Falcons began fouling the Eagles. In response to Falcon fouls, the Eagles sank ten free-throws and prevented any further scoring from the Falcons to seal the game and bring home the trophy for DPCA.

Since 2007 there have been at least two Ritschard brothers playing Eagle's basketball together.  Though that legacy ended with the championship game,  senior Micah (center right) says he is confident that the other guys will keep an eye on Noah.

"The boys played well throughout, and stayed cool in the face of a couple of really bad calls," coach Devon Toll noted. "I'm really proud of their whole season, and totally pumped about this win!"  The victory is the second FRCAA championship for DPCA basketball in three years, with the previous first-place finish in 2010 under then head-coach Ben Little.

Other highlights of the tournament for DPCA included the Ritschard brothers and Joel Parker being named to the FRCAA All-Conference team, and the Ritschards and Hawk White receiving all-tournament recognition as well.