MONTVALE, NJ: Old School – Champs…And Chumps?

Well, Old School did what hasn’t been done in months. The first-ever Montvale UHoops champs claimed banner number two by defeating the suddenly mortal RUNt, 56-40. Unfortunately, that’s where Old School's run ends.

First off, bravo to the old guys. They say defense wins championships, and how dare we overlook that. A prediction of 58-50 in RUNt’s favor could not have been more wrong. Sure, RUNt walked through the regular season unscathed and beat Old School by 20 in the process. But Old School was the one who dominated when it counted, and that’s all that matters.

Billy Allen and Akeem Atanda led a defensive attack that forced RUNt to settle for jumpers and minimized second chances. When Old School is shutting down opponents, they don’t need flashy offense or 20-point scorers. What they need is steady, reliable scoring to hold a lead while their D does the rest. We saw that first-hand Wednesday night.

So congrats to Allen, Atanda, John Cotton, Joe Cothron, Brett Merker, Bill Costello and Ernie Santos for their title game performance. Old School is your 2014 Montvale fall champ.

What’s next? Well…

The inaugural Northeast Tournament is January 10. The NJ winner (Montvale vs. Florham Park) plays the New York winner (Westchester vs. Syosset) for the title. The problem is, we have already been eliminated…because of an Old School forfeit. What happened guys? Not enough players? Not enough desire to keep going? Afraid of better leagues, perhaps?

To quote the great James Mooney during one of his Fall Northeast Player of the Week articles, “Montvale's competition level is possibly worse than a third string 4th grade team.”

Come on, Old School! Our own regional coordinator has already labeled us as the weakest league around! And now…a forfeit?!?

Don’t we want to know how our league’s best stack up against the others in our area? There’s really no place to go but up after being called little school girls, so a beat down by a fellow New Jersey team would hardly make things any worse. However, not showing up? That’s like handing the bullies your lunch money before they even get a chance to take a swing at you.

Oh well. We will just have to wait until next season to see who represents Montvale in the regional championship. But for now, congrats to Old School on winning the elementary school title. Gold stars for everyone!