Some games you remember because while the team you followed/rooted for was not going anywhere but they had one moment during the season that made a significant impact in the form of a late season win against a contending team. That win plays a role into them getting left at the alter when it comes to playoff selection time. It might be just a fleeting memory but it felt great at the time.
The St. Helena High boys basketball team’s 53-46 win over the St. Vincent (Petaluma) Mustangs felt exactly that way in February 2007. The Saints would split their last two games (56-45 win over Clear Lake and 73-50 loss to Cloverdale) on the road to finish 9-19.
St. Vincent would finish the season 18-9 overall and 5-3 against North Central League South I teams. Despite the quality win-loss mark, the Mustangs missed the CIF North Coast Section Div. V playoffs. Whether or not losing to the Saints played a role in that happening, who knows, but for St. Helena it was a bright spot in a season of ups and downs -- mostly the latter, it was a feel good moment.
The subplot to this story was that the NCL I was split into NCL I North and NCL I South from 2005-2010 with the additions of Upper Lake and St. Vincent. Both teams later returned to the NCL II. St. Vincent has caused St. Helena their share of headaches when the NCL I South was initially formed.
By virtue of beating St. Vincent, St. Helena knocked the Mustangs out of first place in the NCL I South. St. Vincent could achieve no worse than a tie with Cloverdale by winning Tuesday. Including the aforementioned split against Clear Lake and Cloverdale, the Saints have now won four of their last six games to finish the season.
The game also marked Senior Night in that it was the final home game in the careers of Jake Holguin, Jason Micheli and Zac Thompson in the final home game of their careers. In such situations, senior players get honored in a pregame ceremony, during which time they present a rose to their parents as a token of appreciation. I frequently took photos of the senior players together and ran them in the newspaper. I’ve got to be honest, I was never a fan running these type of photos because they were non-action photos.
When it comes to posed Senior Night pictures, when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. However, I soon came to the realization early in my 10-year stint on the beat that parents like such photos. To that end, you have to put the readers’ needs ahead of what you like sometimes. Is it really going to hurt me to do this 6-8 weeks out of 52? I think not. Plus, in a small town, building goodwill takes you a long way.
To add further significance to the Saints’ win over St. Vincent, the had beaten the Saints in football (2005), baseball (2006), the boys basketball Shaugnessy Tournament (2006) and girls soccer (2006) either in the postseason or to prevent St. Helena from reaching the CIF NCS playoffs.
On this night, St. Helena played undeniably its best game of the season.
The Mustangs led 26-19 at halftime, but St. Helena outscored St. Vincent 19-7 in the third quarter. Holguin’s 3-pointer, one of six for the game, put the Saints ahead for good at 34-33.
Thompson connected with Chris Yeakey on a fast break as the third quarter horn sounded to give St. Helena a 38-33 lead after three quarters and drew an enormous cheer from the crowd in the process.
St. Vincent narrowed the gap to 49-46 late in the game, but Dre Gomes’ putback sealed the Mustangs’ fate.
Holguin drained six 3-pointers en route to a game-high 23 points for the Saints while Chris Yeakey scored 13 and Dre Gomes had 10. Gomes added a game-high 14 rebounds while Yeakey added eight. Austin Saladin grabbed six rebounds.
The key note to the game was the Saints defense against both Pengel and Austin Schalich, who scored 11 and five points respectively. Pengel was never able to consistently get untracked. Though Holguin’s offense was electric, his defense against Pengel spurred the Saints.
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