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Champs, again -
Above, the three-time state champion Dale Pirates pose with the gold ball after the state finals on Saturday. Below, senior Deken Jones drives down the lane. Photos/Rick Hester
Dale High School’s Pirates captured their third consecutive State Class 2A basketball championship last weekend defeating No. 2 ranked Pocola 63-38 in the finals.
Dale’s girls and the North Rock Creek boys also made the state tournament, with the Lady Pirate falling to Merritt, 25-23, in the finals and NRC losing to eventual champion Douglass, 74-38, in the semifinals.
Coach Jeff Edmonson’s Pirates, in claiming a threepeat, noted, “It’s the only three state championships the Dale boys have won.”
The Pirates completed a 30-2 record for the season and went 62-2 over the past two seasons.
Edmonson said Pocola was 30-1 on the season. The Pirates ran by No. 13 ranked Warner 87-50 in the quarterfinals and No. 4 ranked Hennessey 67-44 in the semi-finals setting the stage for the matchup between the top two ranked teams in Class 2A.
“We were only ahead 25-20 against Pocola, but won by 25,” Edmonson said. “We outscored them 16-5 in the third quarter.”
Edmonson believes, “We have an outstanding team, we play really good defense. We match up pretty well with anyone in the state as we’ve shown over the past two years.
“Our only losses in the last two years have been to Class 6A Owasso in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions in December and Hoover, Ala. High School at the Illinois Tournament of Champions in November.
“Owasso just defended their state championship and Hoover recently won the Class 7A title in their state,” he added.
Dale defeated Metamora, Ill., 69-65 in overtime in the Illinois TOC which was ranked 16th in the nation at the time.
The successful Dale coach, pointing to the key in the state title run, said, “Definitely defense. It leads to lots of easy baskets on offense. We shot a lot layups,” Edmonson stated.
For the third consecutive year, senior Dayton Forsythe was named the Most Valuable Player in the Class 2A state tournament. I’m not sure that ever has been done before,” Edmonson thinks.
“He had 36 points in the finals,” he pointed out. Forsythe has signed to play basketball at Oklahoma University next fall.
In the finals, senior Deken Jones added 8 points, sophomore Denton Forsythe 6, junior Jett Higdon 5 and juniors Easton Edmonson and Trey Chambers netted 4 each.
Edmonson believes every state championship is special. “Dayton went out on top. He’s had a great career here. He’s a winner, a great leader.”
Dayton and Deken along with four other seniors will graduate. “We’ll miss those six seniors. They’ve been here for a while. That’s a good group of seniors,” the coach added.
The Dale Lady Pirates lost 25-23 to Merritt in the state finals after defeating Okemah 51-33 in the quarterfinals and clipping Howe 46-33 in the semi-finals.