Jay Crouch, who started teaching at Niles Brandywine High in 1972, was one of the many Bobcats fans who occupied almost three whole sections at the Breslin Center to cheer on his granddaughter and the rest of her team. Arguably the biggest crowd of the weekend.
For a small town on the west side of the state that is closer to the campus of Notre Dame University than it is to Michigan State, a trip to the Breslin Center is not something the community takes lightly.
“I have a granddaughter who was here in the Final Four before, I’ve got a granddaughter on this team, and she’s made it one step further then her sister, so yes. This is special,” said Crouch, who taught at Brandywine for 31 years before retiring. “Pair that with the wrestlers that were successful, it's just been a special sports year, this year.”
After making the same two-hour drive a week earlier to see their boys’ team win the Division 3 state championship, fans from Niles, Michigan packed up the cars once again and drove 134 miles to cheer on the girls for their state final.
“They put a YouTube video of alumni players who have gone through this and it’d make you cry because it goes a long way back,” Crouch said. “When I started at Brandywine, and until now, it’s a community, but it’s family.”
Cheering on the Bobcats right next to Crouch was Terry Borr, a fellow teacher who started at Brandywine in 1986. The two worked alongside for years at Brandywine.
“The teaching staff is very, very close, and the community is just very close and they just support the Bobcats,” Borr said.
Both the girls' and boys' Bobcat basketball teams have earned the love and dedication of the community by having some of the best seasons in school history.
The boys team accomplished a feat it had never done before, defeating Detroit Old Redford 56-48 inside the Breslin Center, finishing the season at 26-3. The girls also earned a trip to the state final, coming into the game with only one loss.
“I think we’ve got two really dedicated coaches, both the girls coach and the boys coach,” Borr said. “They’re dedicated to these kids, and they work hard for them, and the kids have bought into what those coaches are telling them to do.”
Along with the strong coaching, there has been strong play and execution from the girls' team, which is what Crouch thinks got them this far,
“They are just tenacious,” Crouch said. “They have a few offensive specialists, but they just get after it on the defensive end and it’s been special in that way.”
The Brandywine faithful unfortunately couldn’t see their fairytale play out as they would have wanted, as the girls would end up falling to Ypsilanti Arbor Prep in the Division 3 State Final, 33-30.
Although the disappointment of the result was evident in the post-game press conference, Brandywine Head Coach Josh Hood touched on how proud he was of his girls as well as how much of a privilege it is to have the community rally around them.
“We were not intimidated. We battled,” Hood said. “There’s a lot of people that could learn from these girls. The last three we didn’t get it done, and they could have folded, and instead they rose up, so I’m really proud of them.”
This message was also echoed by the girls who helped get the Bobcats this far like senior guard Ellie Knapp.
“I’m proud of my team for getting this far, I guess I’m just disappointed we were so close,” Knapp said.
Brandywine’s fans will realize the legacy that accompanies Brandywine basketball runs much deeper than a great record, or new trophy to display in the halls of the school. It is a testament to how much sports can mean to a community.
“They’ve always been the next big thing coming up,” Hood said while holding back tears. “Instead of folding, all they’ve done is work, and they’ve worked really, really hard to get here, so I'm proud of them.”