LONG POST WARNING 🙂 Last night was the 12th annual Andrea’s Hoops for Hope games at Jefferson High School. Festus was the guest participant this year. Four games were played, JV & V boys & girls. It makes for a long evening for all involved. Students and staff put in a tremendous amount of work into this event. Congratulations to both schools and communities for their support of this cause! I have some additional thoughts on the evening: 1. I apologize for not having much time to chat with old friends last night. It was a very busy evening, but it was great to see so many familiar faces in the stands. 2. The first three games of the night weren’t very competitive. The Festus girls' varsity team is very good, and their skills were very much on display. They beat the Lady Jays 73 to 35. The Jefferson girls didn’t play badly; they were just up against a very loaded, big school opponent. 3. For the 10 and 1 Festus girls, this was a nice tune-up ahead of their huge matchup at home against 8 and 1 Hillsboro on Thursday. Jefferson turns their attention to a tough road game against Ste Genevieve on Monday. 4. The varsity boys’ game did not disappoint. It was a matchup against one of the best JCAA Large School teams vs one of the best JCAA Small Schools teams. The Blue Jays took over the game in the 3rd quarter and held on to beat the Tigers 63 to 54. The Jays’ team defense was outstanding last night. Jefferson’s unselfish play on offense was also a critical factor. 5. In the end, the boys' game meant much more to the small school Blue Jays than the big school Tigers. Jefferson (9-6) can use this momentum to finish the regular season strong and be the favorites to win their District. Festus (8-4) has plenty of time to work on what went wrong ahead of their next big rivalry game next Friday at Hillsboro. 6. The crowd and atmosphere were electric. That was the largest crowd to attend a basketball game in the history of the R7 District. While there was some trash talk on the court and off, I am pleased to report that there were no incidents, given the size of the crowd, and everyone behaved themselves. Congratulations to all! @R7Activities @fhstigersports @LiveStreamSTL