For over 40 years a high school recreational basketball league has taken place in the FLOW district, with the most recent season almost concluded. Twice weekly for the past two months, students have gathered at Wyckoff’s Lincoln Elementary School to face off against organized teams and compete to win the FLOW Rec League championship.
To begin the season, 10 designated captains were chosen to draft teams out of a 100-person player pool ranging from freshmen to seniors. Each captain was responsible for choosing a head coach and selecting a team name based on an American college. The rules of the game were very similar to college basketball rules and each game was even officiated by a professional official. Most games were held on Mondays and Fridays with five games per night.
Throughout the season students brought excitement to each game and bragging rights to school the following morning. With students facing their peers on a weekly basis, Ramapo was filled with competitive spirit from prior or upcoming games of the opposing teams. Ramapo economics teacher, Mr. Witterschein saw that, “there was a high level of excitement in my students” and believed the league “is a good opportunity to be athletic in a relaxed environment.” Mr. Witterschein kept up with the league through the official Rec League Instagram run by Ramapo senior James Magerko. The very active Instagram page featured posts before every game, including previews of matchups, updating league standings, and even having power rankings for every week of action. Magerko even took it a step further during the game’s fourth quarters to live stream games to Instagram for fans who couldn’t make it to the game. Magerko stated, “It was really fun to help out with the league this year. The whole thing was set up and has always been run by Mr. Wingfield who consistently does a great job with the league. It’s been a long process to make the league so successful and we can’t wait to pass it on to the next generation.”
While the league may have been organized similarly to college basketball, the quality of gameplay was a far cry from NCAA calibur. With few players in the league having played organized basketball, games were low-scoring and contained many fouls. However, rec league official, Larry Emmolo, had a great time officiating and said “I really enjoy doing these HS rec games, been at it for about 15 years now. This year’s kids are a bunch of good guys and are extremely competitive as nobody likes to lose. Some of them complain too much but that comes with the territory of being an official and by now I’ve learned how to play along. I also love the fact that the older kids give the younger kids the time to be part of the action.” With many memorable moments throughout the season, Ramapo senior Ben Fischer reminisced about his game-winning shot in week six, “Being surrounded with all my friends after making the shot was a great experience. It feels great to go out there and play with peers.”
To end the season, eight teams made the playoffs while two were forced to watch. However, before the season ended a controversial decision was made by the league commissioner to change the way each team was ranked in the standings. Originally, a team’s placement in the standings was based on the record and their total point differential in winning or losing games. Only a week before the final game of the season the decision was made to replace the point differential requirement with power points, which are points given to each team based on the record against the better teams in the league. This change was a surprise to many and left player Antonio Spina with this to say, “It was suspicious how the rule changed the week before the playoffs, kicking us (Baylor) out of the playoffs even though we had the head-to-head advantage.”
The playoffs began in early February with FSU, Duke, Providence, Gonzaga, Iowa, LSU, USC, and Colorado all fighting for the coveted FLOW Rec League Championship. After a tough road in the playoffs, Providence and FSU both looked to dominate in the highly anticipated finals matchup. While Providence held the lead throughout the game, FSU continued to keep it close and pulled to a deficit of 2 points with only a couple of seconds remaining. After a missed layup by captain Andrew Fitzmaurice, senior Tristan Johnson was able to grab the offensive rebound and kick it out to the captain’s younger brother, James Fitzmaurice, for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win the championship for FSU. After this exciting finish, it’s safe to say that the FLOW Rec League was a major success among students and will continue to be a Ramapo tradition for years to come. #growtherec
