The 7th grade boys delivered another explosive victory Tuesday evening in front of an exuberant and supportive home crowd. Everyone broke a sweat and everyone contributed. The final score does not show our sincere effort to not run up the score. The bench players played more than the starters and played with hustle and class. After the game the boys again picked up litter in the locker room without complaint. They pray without being asked and consistently encourage one another. These young men are learning to live out the greater spiritual lessons of life that can be gleaned from the amazing game of basketball.
    One of our team moms, Misty Odenweller, has been making the arrangements for the boys to hungrily devour a pre-game dinner of Fazoli's pasta. Athletes are known to be superstitious, so I imagine they will continue to request Fazoli's as well as the cayenne pepper I keep in my office. Most of the team sprinkled a moderate, yet painful and tear-jerking dose, onto their spaghetti and then suffered the consequences of open sinuses and runny noses. It was highly entertaining to witness, and believe it or not, a male-bonding kind of experience. Thanks, Mrs. Odenweller, for planning these meals and to all the parents for the post-game snacks.
    Anyway, back to the results of this convincing win for 7th grade Cougar boys basketball. Justin “Silky Smooth” Jackson somehow scored 21 points while only playing half the game, twelve minutes total. He also mixed in 4 assists, 4 steals, and 4 rebounds. Michael Pender was all over the place with 6 points, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 3 steals, and 4 rebounds. Keaton Hart had 8 points, and count them, 6 offensive boards! Giddyup! Off the bench Malcolm Barnes grabbed 5 rebounds and Robbie Dillard had 5 points. Most exciting for these young men is building a large enough lead for Emeka Nwogbo to play a guard position, which he begs to do about every minute of the game. I love Emeka's humorous and enthusiastic spirit. I know the players will agree with me when I say life is more exciting when Emeka is around.
    Great effort, young men! You make Coach Reaves and NCS proud! Keep being classy!