TJ Summers (12) donned a camouflage cloak and a floppy hat. Zach Hansen (12) wore a pink robe and a headband.  This group of spirited, energetic athletes made up Team OGN. Their special uniforms were hard to miss as they lined up for the dodgeball championship game against Scott’s Totts – Return of the Totts in the gym, Dec. 14.

“We made sure we wore the craziest stuff so that people were like, ‘Ah, we’re going to see those people play,’” Hansen said.

They started each game with their signature walk from the fitness lab to their side of the gym.

“Before every game we were kind of nervous,” Summers said. “We made sure to make our presence known so that we would try and intimidate the other teams, which I guess worked.”

Advancing easily through the first few rounds, OGN met their match in round 2, when they played the defending champions, Scott’s Totts. Balls were hurled across the gym, and when the four minutes of the match was up, only two players on each side were remaining. Zach Hansen (12) and Kevin Lyons (12) needed to win to keep OGN in the tournament.

Unfortunately, one of Lyons’ balls was caught by their opponents, leaving Hansen outnumbered against the three players on the Scott’s Totts team. Hansen was able to peg one player, but the clock dwindled down. He was dodging balls left and right. It seemed like all was lost, but with 10 seconds left, Hansen’s  team was screaming at him to throw a ball.

“The best part of this was that we were screaming at Zach,” Summers said. “He was being so lackadaisical, and we’re screaming at him like, ‘There’s 10 seconds, throw the ball!’”

Hansen was still keeping his eyes on his two opponents on the dividing line, but one ball hit him square in the chest. Before it hit the ground, he hit it up into the air and caught it. In these few seconds, the game turned. OGN was leading by one player.

The crowd went wild as everyone in the bleachers stood up cheering. Hansen’s teammates stormed the court, celebrating. From then on, OGN went on to win their final matches, which were all very close games.

“I think in two of our three final games, we were down like three players in the game, and I think we showed resilience in that aspect, by winning them,” Summers said.

Being seniors, the team thought that it was a good way to go out, as it unified them more as a group, bantering with each other before each match.

“The last couple years, it’s always been a dark horse that wins it [dodgeball],” Summers said. “I feel like everyone just knew us because we were so loud and out there, and we ended up winning. We didn’t expect it.”