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Sports
By Patrick Browne
On Friday, Jan. 19 the Forest Park Trojans (7-2) took on the West Iron Wykons (0-11). In a year during which the Wykons are rebuilding and the Trojans are solid contenders for the Division 4 State Championship, fans were not expecting much excitement. The faithful from both West Iron and Forest Park showed up as the faithful always do, the popcorn was made and the game got underway.
The Trojans came out strong, seemingly unable to miss and scored 30 points in the first quarter to the Wykons’ 4. While the Wykons fought back valiantly with 17 second quarter points, the Trojans dropped in 27 and the halftime score was a lopsided 57 to 21. The fans could not muster the desire to cheer against their usual archrivals, the gym grew quiet and the game saw fans start to waver in their attention.
As the third quarter got underway, the Trojans’ Kevin Giuliani scored a basket on a follow up rebound and on the next possession the Wykons’ Elijah Oberlin received a pass and made another of his beautiful shots which fell through the net never touching the backboard or the rim. Teams traded points and rebounds and, because of the relatively uneventful nature of the game, the fans did no more than their compulsory clap or two to show what was at best tepid support. The game droned on.
Somewhere in the middle of the third quarter, Trojan Senior Gaven Rintala made a three point shot and the next trip up the court did it again and then did it again and again and again. Added to the threes he had already made in the first half, whispers of a school record for most three pointers being broken began to circulate. A record that had stood for 10 years was at risk of falling.
Fans started to awaken as Rintala’s shots kept falling from behind the arc and did so with such accuracy that the shots never hit the rim or the backboard, but just kept dropping through the net. When Rintala hit his eighth three pointer and his teammates realized he was only two shots from tying the Forest Park record and three from setting a new record, the fans on both sides started to cheer. The exuberance of the crowd seemingly led him to be more accurate. Two more three pointers fell and his Trojan teammates decided it was more fun to see him shoot than shoot themselves.
Every trip up the court Rintala was thrown the pass. He squared up and dropped another. He was only one three pointer away from the school record of 11 and the entire gymnasium was electrified and cheering not for their respective teams, but for one player.
As the final minute ticked down, Rintala received a pass, threw the ball in the air and for the eleventh time in the game the ball dropped for a three pointer. A school record which had stood since Trojan Lexi Gussert, the all time leading scorer in the Upper Peninsula, set it in 2014 when she made 10. Gaven Rintala, with a total of 11 three point shots in one game, established himself as the new Forest Park record holder.
After the game, in his usual humble manner, he shared, “At halftime my teammate Kevin Giuliani told me I was close. We started to talk about the record and, in the second half all my teammates, especially Felix Quevedo, fed me a lot of passes. Once I set the record my dad was so happy!”
Lexi Gussert, arguably the best basketball player the Upper Peninsula has ever produced, and the previous record holder was thrilled to see the record broken. “Records are meant to be broken and I am happy for Gaven to have this record. He is someone that all upcoming and inspired young basketball players should watch if they want to be a good shooter. He has clearly worked hard to be known as one of the greatest shooters in our program’s history!”