While some people follow the Valentine’s Day tradition, this year boys on the varsity basketball team will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on the court, playing their Metro League rival the Linden Eagles.
“Even though we’re playing Linden again, I doubt we’re going to lose,” junior Evan Welch said. “They are tough competition, but with all of the hard practices that we’ve been having, we’ve gotten even tougher.”
During the Jan. 10 matchup, the Tigers outscored Linden 21-9 in the fourth quarter, winning 58-45. Senior James Claborn led the boys with 16 points in the fourth quarter. Linden’s main offensive player, Collin Hoeberling scored 15 points.
As soon as the Silent Night ritual concluded (after five points were scored), attitudes arose on and off the court.
“As the game kept going, the boys tried to start fights with us,” sophomore Ben Hajciar said. “One actually threw a ball at senior Scott Lukas’ head.”
Not only were the student sections competing with some vocal tension, the students also recognized the tension on the court.
“You could just tell that there was so much tension in the last Fenton versus Linden game because of the high number of intentional fouls,” sophomore Sarah Cummings said. “There were like five of them just from Linden.”
The team currently has a 6-5 record in the league and a 6-6 record over all. Just because it’s Valentine’s Day, fans say they will be at the game Friday to support their team.
“People will definitely go to the Valentine’s Day game,” senior Alex Fulton said. “Although it’ll be Valentine’s Day, we still aren’t sure what the theme (for the student section) will be yet.”
The boys game will start at 7:30 p.m. The girls will play before them at 6 p.m. at Linden.