When the final whistle blew, concluding the first match of Westview’s annual dodgeball tournament, all eyes turned to the referee. Two stories circulated, one team claiming the match had ended in a tie, and the other arguing they were a player up. G Block stood on one side of the court, fingers crossed that they hadn’t lost their opening match, while Asian Invasian hoped the final call could leave them victorious. When the ref announced the decision that Asian Invasion had won, the team burst into cheers, but they weren’t the only ones. From the sidelines, an eruption of celebrations from team Run Back rose above all the other noise in the room–their rivals had lost their first game on Dec 11.
The teams, G Block and Run Back, go beyond just dodgeball teams for these players. At the beginning of the school year, the two groups were formed and decidedly became rivals. According to Evan Moon (12), a member of team Run Back, the dodgeball tournament was a way to have some friendly competition and show who was really on top.
After Day 1 of the tournament was over, G Block left with a loss, and Run Back walked away with a win. Goltz said that these results raised their team’s morale and set the stage for the rest of the tournament.
“G Block losing their first game really boosted our confidence to win our side of the bracket, and take it to the championship,” Goltz said.
For team G Block, Tyler Woolridge (12) said that opening with a loss was a small setback. They made adjustments that helped them to secure their second game win, and a third in a rematch against Asian Invasion.
“The first game, we didn’t really know what to do, but then we came up with a good game plan and made some subs,” Woolridge said. “We made positions, where I’m the middle guy who’s the main distributor, and we have three people who are up front and throwing the ball, and the rest of the people stay behind trying not to get hit and catch balls.”
Before the match, Wooldridge said that G Block is hoping the brackets align and his team will get the chance to face Run Back, and has faith in his team’s chances.
“I would definitely be more excited to play Run Back than any of the other teams,” Woolridge said on Tuesday. “I think it would impact the rivalry, and we’ll finally be able to prove that we’re better than them.”
With their signature baggy silver shorts, and speaker blasting before every game, Caden Zaborowski (12) says that their team chemistry and energy are why they’re prepared for G Block’s performance on the court.
“We work much better as a team than G Block with our designed plays and much better team spirit,” Zaborowski said. “We’ll just let our game do the talking.”
The highly anticipated match commenced on Wednesday, Dec 17. The match ended in a tie, which sent both teams into one minute overtime. Not a single player left the court, fighting with every ounce of grit they had. The overtime match ended with a score of 6-6, just as it began, at which point sudden death was announced.
On G Block’s side of the court, stood Dylan O’Donohue (12).
“I thought we’d won already so going into sudden death, we thought we had the game, and had full faith in victory,” O’Donohue said. “When I heard the words ‘sudden death’ I was appalled. So we had to lock back in by talking in our team huddle about pushing through the adversity.”
All of the players had their hands on the wall, ready to put in the work and get the kill that would decide the game, and the rivalry.
It all came down to the final play when a Run Back player threw the ball that re-directed off the foot of an opposing player. The fall flew into the wall and was caught to end the game.
O’Donohue said that the play was unclear for both teams and the referee at the time, and left them with a tough decision.
“I knew we had the win in the bag, but the ref’s call still decided it all, so I was nervous for what they were gonna say,” O’Donohue said. “When I heard the announcer say G Block won, we all huddled around Lawrence Lam (12), as he dunked a dodgeball. To us they were never competition. We let our game do the talking.”
Goltz said that although his team lost, he’s looking forward to playing with them again, where they’ll have a chance at redemption.
“I feel like we could’ve played better, and we had a lot of disagreements on the court that didn’t help,” Goltz said. “You’ll see us in March Madness 3v3, and we’ll get the win.”
