To get to this weekend’s Class 4A state semifinals, the New Trier boys basketball team had to beat Glenbard North in the Super Sectionals. But it’s their win in the Sectional Final that delivered a March Madness moment to remember. The chase for a state championship is alive and well for the Trevians because of one play that goes by one word.
“The play is called ‘Celtic’,” said Trevians head coach Scott Fricke.
“The whole time, I was saying to run Celtic,” Christopher Kirkpatrick remembered. “I really wanted to take the shot.”
The Sectional Championship game last Friday against Glenbrook North was tied with two seconds left when Fricke, who’s in his 16th season as head coach at the Winnetka school, drew up the seldom-used play. Kirkpatrick – who’s a sophomore guard – was ready for the moment.
“In the huddle, when we said we’re running Celtic, I saw it in his eyes. He wanted that shot,” Fricke said.
“I felt like I knew I was going to hit the shot, and right after it left my fingertips, I just knew it was in,” Kirkpatrick said when thinking back on the game winner.
“We work on it every day, and I had complete faith everybody on the floor was going to execute, and we did it perfectly, so it was an awesome moment forsure,” senior guard Logan Feller said
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Now, here comes the Final Four in Champaign. That’s where New Trier will face Homewood-Flossmoor Friday afternoon. The Final Four is where the Trevians state championship dreams ended last season, and they’ve been thinking about this opportunity every day since.
“We want to build off what we did and keep progressing rather than be satisfied with how far we got last year,” Feller said. “That’s the focus of this year’s run. We got there last year and that was awesome, but we didn’t accomplish our goal, and that’s what we’re setting out to do this year.”
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“We’re going to go down there and have fun, but we know what we want, and we want to win a state championship,” added Kirkpatrick.
Now, they’re two wins from bringing the first boys basketball state championship trophy back to school.
