{"id":79377,"date":"2017-03-20T14:27:40","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T14:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=79377"},"modified":"2023-04-18T20:00:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T20:00:15","slug":"behind-mic-thrill-agony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-thrill-agony\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic: Thrill; Agony"},"content":{"rendered":"

From 1961-1998, I regularly would watch The Wide World of Sports<\/a> on ABC.\u00a0 Jim McKay<\/a> was the host and the show\u2019s introductory video and catchphrase was \u201cthe thrill of victory and the agony of defeat\u201d.\u00a0 Those words were spoken over a celebration of a great win followed by a ski jumper severely crashing during a competition.\u00a0 The pictures and the phrase became ingrained into the psyche of every regular viewer.<\/p>\n

That phrase came back to me this past week while broadcasting the two Emmaus <\/a>state basketball games.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the \u201cthrill of victory\u201d.\u00a0 Emmaus had beaten Cheltenham 68-67 the previous Saturday to advance to the PIAA <\/a>State second round.\u00a0 They were the only AAAAAA boys\u2019 team left from the Lehigh Valley because both Allen <\/a>and Parkland <\/a>had already been beaten.\u00a0 The irony of their participation is that up until this year when the PIAA added six classifications, Emmaus would not have even gotten into the state playoffs.\u00a0 With the additional classes, four teams were eligible and Emmaus was the fourth.<\/p>\n

That set up a one day snow-delayed matchup with the Harrisburg Cougars, the #1 team out of a very strong District 3 at Reading High School.\u00a0 Harrisburg had beaten Reading in their District playoffs and they were now considered the favorite to make it to the state championship game.\u00a0 In a thrilling game with a nail-biting finish, Emmaus won 64-61 and, for the first time in school history, would move on to play in the state quarterfinals.\u00a0 They would be part of, in NCAA March Madness<\/a> lingo, the Elite Eight!\u00a0 The celebration that followed was the definition of \u201cthe thrill of victory\u201d.<\/p>\n

That set up a return trip to Reading for Emmaus as they would take on the Carlisle Thundering Herd for a place in the state semi-finals.\u00a0 Harrisburg had beaten Carlisle twice and they were in the same district as the Cougars.\u00a0 They entered the playoffs as the #5 team in District 3.\u00a0 Emmaus certainly could enter this game knowing they were every bit as good as their opponent.\u00a0 And they were.<\/p>\n

Emmaus led by six at the end of one period and by ten at the half.\u00a0 They still led by ten with just 3:05 to go in the game.\u00a0 But\u2026 Carlisle waged a comeback.\u00a0 Emmaus still could clinch the win as they led 62-59 with 7.9 seconds to go.\u00a0 Emmaus\u2019 all-time leading scorer, David Kachelries, a 76% free-throw shooter, went to the line to shoot one free throw (he had made his first six of the game, but missed his previous three).\u00a0 Make it and the Hornets are in the state semi-final; miss it and the Herd still needed to make a three-point shot to send the game into overtime.\u00a0 He missed and Ben Milligan made a three at the buzzer to tie the game at 62.\u00a0 \u201cThrill\u201d and \u201cagony\u201d by anyone would be delayed.<\/p>\n

Emmaus needed three free throws on one trip to the foul line by David\u2019s twin brother, Matt Kachelries, to send the game into a second overtime.\u00a0 He calmly went to the foul line and made all three.\u00a0 The first overtime ended 69-69.<\/p>\n

But the second overtime period ended with Carlisle controlling the scoreboard and the Thundering Herd galloped to a 78-74 win.\u00a0 The Emmaus season was over.\u00a0 The Kachelries twins had scored an amazing 57 points in the game and that was still not enough.<\/p>\n

David ended his career with 1,910 points and Matt finished with 1,027.\u00a0 Matt had missed two-thirds of his sophomore year due to injury or his total would have been much higher.\u00a0 Emmaus finished with one their greatest and most memorable seasons ever.<\/p>\n

None of that mattered though at @ 6:30pm on Saturday night as the Green Hornets and Coach Steve Yoder walked off the floor in Reading.\u00a0 Much like the skier in the Wide World of Sports intro, they were severely suffering from \u201cthe agony of defeat\u201d.<\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Bethlehem Catholic AAAA girls\u2019 basketball team is the last team standing from the Lehigh Valley. As I write this, they are preparing to play Gwyned Mercy in the PIAA semifinals<\/a>.\u00a0 A win would get them into the state championship game.\u00a0 Congratulations to Coach Medina and the girls.\u00a0 Go Hawks!!<\/li>\n
  2. How are you doing on your NCAA bracket? I assume many of you had Villanova and Duke <\/a>to go far into the tournament and even winning it all.\u00a0 I had Duke making it to the Final Four.\u00a0 I still have Arizona<\/a>, Kansas<\/a>, and North Carolina<\/a> alive to make the Final Four.\u00a0 I heard a lot of moans and groans this past weekend.<\/li>\n
  3. It is hard to imagine that the next Eastern Pennsylvania Conference basketball season could match this one. Losing so many stars like Sam Iorio, Kevin Wagner, the Kachelries twins, Tyrese Martin, Talek Williams, etc. will be hard to duplicate for a very long time.<\/li>\n
  4. He gets a mention every week \u2013 Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman<\/a> of Central Catholic is still playing in the NCAA tournament. Muhhammad starts and plays as many minutes as anyone for Michigan<\/a>.\u00a0 He scored 16 against Oklahoma State<\/a> and some vital points down the stretch against Louisville<\/a> as his team moved on to the Sweet Sixteen.<\/li>\n
  5. My usual reaction at the end of the basketball season is how fast winter flew by. Except this year, the season has come to a close and winter continues to rear its ugly head.\u00a0 C\u2019mon!\u00a0 What\u2019s a golfer to do?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    From 1961-1998, I regularly would watch The Wide World of Sports on ABC.\u00a0 Jim McKay was the host and the show\u2019s introductory video and catchphrase was \u201cthe thrill of victory and the agony of defeat\u201d.\u00a0 Those words were spoken over a celebration of a great win followed by a ski jumper severely crashing during a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[612,29,175,755,282,326,343,364,630,609,623,541],"class_list":["post-79377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports","tag-allen-basketball","tag-arizona","tag-duke","tag-emmaus-basketball","tag-kansas","tag-march-madness","tag-michigan","tag-ncaa","tag-north-carolina","tag-parkland-basketball","tag-piaa-basketball","tag-villanova"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Mic: Thrill; 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