F.C. 10U Team Wins Basketball Title

Despite trailing nearly the entire game against a talented Annandale team, the Boys Select U10 Falls Church Mustangs rallied in the game’s closing minutes to capture the Fairfax County Youth Basketball League (FCYBL) Division II championship on Saturday March 12, 2005.  The final score was 27-26. 

The game was a defensive gem from the very start as Annandale clawed to a 15-5 lead early in the second half.

Falls Church whittled down the lead but still trailed by 8 points with fewer than five minutes remaining.  Behind tournament MVP Nate Ogle, who had 12 rebounds and four steals in the final game, the Falls Church defense held Annandale to only 14 points for the second half, but were still down by 3 in the final minute until, with 26 seconds left to play, the Mustangs’ Jeremy Stewart hit a three point shot to tie the game 26-26.

Tough defense produced another Falls Church possession, and an off-ball foul sent the Mustangs’ David Peterson to the free throw line in a one-and-one situation with :06 left on the clock.  Peterson sank the first free throw to give Falls Church the lead for the first time in the game and, with that, the victory. 
The win was the last of nine straight to close out the season for the U-10 Boys Mustangs, who were seeded third in their tournament after a regular season league record of 8-3.

The Falls Church squad was composed of Peter Ballou, Jeremy Brown, Jon Freeman, Victor Lee, Mitchell MacKeith, Drew Nickle, Nate Ogle, Ian Oosterbaan, David Peterson, Jeremy Stewart and Aaron Young.  The League voted two Falls Church players — Jeremy Stewart and Ian Oosterbaan — to the League’s MVP All-Star team.

The championship U10 team was coached by Andrew Nickle and Kevin Ogle.

In other Falls Church Parks and Recreation (FCPR) news from the FCYBL 2005 season, Tim Alexander (shown below) was named Most Valuable Coach in the Boys U11 Division II South. Players Tyler Back and Aaron Cotchen were among the nine league most valuable players from that division.
Andrew Gallagher was an MVP in the Boys U12, Division 2 South, as was Johnny Kelley in Boys U13, Division 2.

In the Girls U-10 Division 2 age group FCRP player Leah Roth was chosen as an MVP, along with Haley Leonard in the Girls U-12 Division 2.