6th Grade 'Canes Finish Undefeated in Tourney & League Play

Do they look tough? Well, don't be fooled by their good looks. This is the toughest team I've ever seen in any youth sport, whether it's basketball, baseball, football or even hockey. It's the 6th grade 'Canes, a feeder team for Bethlehem's Liberty High School. And they are bad mama jamas.

They've just finished a perfect season. Undefeated in two tournaments against teams from all over Eastern Pa and Southern New Jersey. Undefeated in 15 regular season games against other Lehigh Valley teams. Undefeated in the playoffs. In fact, they won most of their games this year by thirty or more points.

Individually, you might find another six grader who's a little faster, a better dribbler or a better shooter than any one of these boys. But that's the whole point. What made this group a great (not just good) team was their ability to work together and feed off each other's strengths.

Take Darius, for example. The shortest boy on the team, he might very well be the shortest boy in the entire league. But guess what? He can dribble and he can shoot. Boy, can he shoot! I can't begin to tell you how many teams take him for granted until he burns them for a few trays.

Or look at Dat, the sweet and innocent one in the middle. He'll strip that ball from you and be halfway down the court before you ever even knew you had it. Nobody gets by him. As point guard, he has an unerring ability to put the ball in the right person's hands for the score.

Alex, the tall one in the back, is all business on the court. Ice. He turns into a robot, showing no emotion, and just picks his opponents apart.

The dude holding the trophy, Josh Clark, usually holds a football. He scampers up and down the gridiron for the Bethlehem Steelers. On the court, he explodes. In fact, one day, I expect to see little pieces of Josh just disintegrate all over the place and then reassemble again right below the basket.

I could go on about the strengths of each one of them from fifth grader Todd Erney's outside shots to Jermaine Battle's shooting accuracy to Jaziah and JoJo's amazing rebounds all year.

None of that is what made them a great team.

What made them great is that they knew each other, liked each other, could read each other and fed off of each other's strengths. All season long.

The team they beat tonight, ironically, is the only other team that has even come close to them. Allentown's no-nonsense East Side Youth Center, coached by Chuck Rockmore of Wall2Wall fame, has an outstanding basketball program and should be proud. The boys on both teams all know each other after years of play and are friends off the court. Many of them learned to dribble on those courts.

It's a bittersweet victory. The man who put it all together - Head Coach Craig Golden - is stepping down after 36 years of tireless devotion to our children. I'll have more about him later, in a future post saluting him and one other great coach.

Until then, the champions you see above, from left to right, are Jermaine Battle, Coach Italiani, Jaziah Scrafano, Dom Italiani, Alex Serrano, Dat Lambert, Josiah "JoJo" Piazza, Josh Clark, Todd Erney, Darius Seaman and Head Coach Craig Golden.

Below, Darius Seaman, with his parents, brother and sis. His number should be 3, not 2, for all the trays he shot this season.

Also, we got the big man, Jaziah Scrafano, with his proud family. Jaziah's little brother insisted on checking the picture to make sure it was good enough for publication. He gave me his approval after some serious thought. Maybe he'll be a sports agent.

These guys are just in it for the babes. It's why Coach Golden had to keep a tight leash on them.

Finally, there's Alex "Iceman" Serrano. Now that the season's over, he can finally smile again.... A little.