Learning Not To Sleep On The Skins

Eventually one day I will learn not to discount the fact that Nokomis High School wins basketball games. Period.

As we prepared Wednesday for Thursday’s edition of The Journal-News, I fretted over the fact that half of the ads on the signature page commemorating the Redskins’ regional championship not only said “congrats” but “good luck” as well. While this is a wonderful sentiment, it remained to be seen whether the “good luck” part would even be necessary since Nokomis was playing Madison that very night in their opening game of the sectional tournament.

It’s not that I didn’t think that the Redskins could win the game, I just didn’t think it was all that likely. Madison was bigger, faster, stronger, more athletic and had beaten Nokomis two years earlier in the sectional final, which was probably the best high school basketball game I have ever seen in person. But in true Nokomis fashion, none of that mattered as the Skins trailed only briefly in their win over the Trojans, thus making my signature page worries a moot point.

The kind of fight that Nokomis displays game in and game out is why they have gone from a team that I dreaded watching in high school, due to their proclivity for beating my alma mater, to one that has been one of my favorite to cover during my time at the newspaper. I fully understand that Coach Steve Kimbro’s demonstrative nature has resulted in a few kids deciding not to play basketball, but for the ones who have stuck around and persevered, the trials and tribulations make the success all that much sweeter.

So with game two of the sectional tournament, just a few hours away, I won’t make the same mistake. I’m not saying that I guarantee Nokomis will defeat the Carrollton Hawks in Nokomis, but no longer will I be surprised when the Redskins are celebrating a victory after a game they weren’t supposed to win.