Teams play an entire season to get to a certain point and that point begins tonight. The Final Four of Harrison County Parks and Recreation begins tonight as the Beavers face the Cooter Commandoes at 6:00 and the Blue Blazers face the Skeeters at 7:30. Each match-up looks intriguing, the Commandoes have beaten the Beavers once, but star player Tyler Trippett was absent from the line-up. The Blue Blazers face the Skeeters, whom they defeated 69-36 in their last match-up. However this isn’t the same Skeeter team. The Skeeters started off slow but have come on as of late, going 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Round Robin. Their only loss was to the Beavers on Wednesday night.
The HCPRC Final Four will be a double elimination tournament featuring the top 2 teams from the Eastern and Western Divisions in the Round Robin Tournament. The Blue Blazers and Beavers each went 4-0 in their respective divisions while the Cooter Commandoes went 2-2 but won the tie-breaker over 2 other 2-2 teams.
This is the time of the year where records don’t matter. Each team is 0-0 right now. The undefeated record of the Blue Blazers and the individual awards of each player means absolutely nothing. Previous match-ups hold no water now. Every possession from here on out is magnified, the pressure on each player and coaching staff increases. Eric Post knows this from experience.
"As a player, I can remember going through the Parks and Rec tournament all the way to the championship my Junior year. It seems like the crowds are always bigger for play-off games and every single time up the court means something. You can’t take any plays off, teams play better at the end of the season and you have to realize that."
Coaching is always different in the play-offs as well. Coaches seem to go away from their normal routine of substituting players and go into an all-in mode. This was seen last year during the Championship game between the Krazy Squirrels and the Clarksburg Crazies. Bill Crawford, who now coaches No Child Left Behind, significantly cut Jamie Holt’s minutes during the game, causing and outburst by Holt. Had he not gotten angry and walked away from the game, the outcome might have been different as the Krazy Squirrels, lead by Ricky Menendez, would steal two close games and the title.
"I’ve been in some big games as a coach and you have to coach them different," Eric Post said. "My first year coaching we played in a series format, it was best out of 3. We were down 1 game to none, so it was an elimination game. We were playing our rival team the Dooks and there was about 5 seconds or so left and we were up 2 points. They had the ball at halfcourt and I subbed a young Freshman named Cory Zinn in for Senior and team MVP Mark Gorby as a defensive replacement. This could have backfired big time, but Cory shut down his man and Travis Messenger, who I subbed in even though he had 5 fouls, made the steal and we won the game and eventually the series. Tough decisions like that is what separates the play-offs from the regular season because a loss can kill you."
