Clark’s players screamed with joy as fans stormed the court to embrace them on Wednesday at Wells. The Eagles’ 63-48 victory clinched the White-West title and earned a promotion to the Red-North/West next season, one of the Public League super conferences.
The journey that began four years ago when coach Terry Head arrived at the West Side school is finally complete.
“It feels so good,” Clark senior Pierre Calhoun said. “As seniors we knew we could be the class to get Clark into the Red. That has been our mindset all season.”
Calhoun scored 17 points and senior Carion Weathers added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Eagles (15-5, 7-1).
“It was a tough game,” Head said. “Wells wouldn’t go away. [Raiders coach] Michael Horton and I have been coaching against each other for years. Wells is always good. Staying together and not cracking under pressure was the key. We played hard defense and that was big.”
The Raiders (10-10, 5-4) didn’t score for the first 6:30 of the third quarter and Clark took control. Wells tightened things up midway through the fourth quarter but Clark responded with an 8-2 burst to end the threat.
“We were so hyped for this win all week,” Weathers said. “We knew there was a lot on the line. We just had to chill out because they got real scrappy at the end and picked up their defense. We had to calm down a little bit.”
The game was originally scheduled to be played at Clark, but for some reason all of the Eagles’ recent home games have been moved.
“I’m not going to comment on that because I don’t want to get in trouble with CPS but there has to be a better way,” Head said. “These kids should be playing home games but they don’t want us to do it. I feel like I’m coming up so I can’t say too much. Now that I’m in the Red maybe I can have something to say.”
Head previously elevated Foreman to the Red and turned that program into one of the best on the North Side.
“The West Side is hard,” Head said. “On the North Side you could take a break and prepare the whole week for a tougher team and maybe overlook a team. You can’t do that on the West Side. There are no breaks. You have to practice on Sundays even. This is the third program I’ve moved up a division. That’s pretty good.”
Kiwane Scott led Wells with 13 points and Freddie Grubbs added eight points and nine rebounds. Two of the Raiders’ best players recently quit the team and Horton says it has been a struggle adjusting.
“I can live with a loss when they play with that much intensity,” Horton said. “We didn’t play with that the last couple games after we lost some guys. If we play like this we can make some noise in the White Division playoffs. They fought. I can appreciate that.”
Life in the Red has been very difficult for the majority of White Division teams that earned promotion the last few years. Head thinks he has enough coming back next season to stick in the Red.
“We are young,” Head said. “I only have four seniors. Nine players are returning and the sophomores are undefeated. We are not going to drop.”
The final minute of Clark at Wells https://t.co/4syisFhnhv
— Michael O'Brien (@michaelsobrien) January 23, 2020
