By Joseph Santoliquito
Special to MaxPreps.com
They just looked at each other, all taking it in, all trying to absorb as much as they could from the moment, the special moment they’ll all certainly replay again and again, and cherish 20, 30 years down the road.
Chester High School’s basketball team finished a season for the ages, completing a 33-1 year with an 81-77 victory over Norristown on March 15, at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center to claim the PIAA Class AAAA (large school) state championship. It marked the sixth state basketball title in the program’s history, and the second state crown in the last four years for Chester, the same high school that produced Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson.
What made this special, more unique than perhaps any other state title in Chester history was the way this version of the Clippers did it: Playing the most ambitious schedule in the school’s history.
Their season was enough to place them at the pinnacle of one of the most revered high school basketball programs in Pennsylvania—good enough to be called the best-ever. It was enough to make this group begin smirking among one another, as the topic was broached, when they were receiving their state championship medals.
The Clippers finished the season with a 25-game winning streak. They ended the season by beating two stellar teams, Norristown and Pennsbury, which had a combined 62-5 record.
“I don’t know if I exactly want to go there, but I will say we certainly deserve to be in the mix with the other great Chester teams that played before us,” said Chester point guard Karon Burton, who finished with a team-high 24 points, including a pair of free throws with 26.1 seconds to play and the game still in doubt. “I like the sound of the that though, ‘best-ever.’ I would like to say we are, but we’ve had an attitude on this team that we’ll let other people determine that. We don’t want to say anything. It’s not for us to say we’re the best-ever.”
One thing is a fact and that’s Clippers coach Fred Pickett going out in a blaze of glory. Pickett captured his third state title—more than any other Chester coach—and then told his team after winning the state championship that he’s retiring as head coach.
“It was tough, but something I thought about for a long time,” Pickett said. “I have a great staff, with great young people. It’s their turn now to take over the program and direct it. I had a great time here, and I know I’ll miss the kids. But I think it’s the
right time to leave.”
Holding a state championship trophy.