Boston’s Finest vs Boston’s Future at the Ohrenberger School in West Roxbury

The following was submitted to West Roxbury Patch.

Members of Boston Police Department answered the challenge laid down by the William Ohrenberger School’s boys basketball team on March 4. Ohrenberger's squad, led by coach Greg Dotson, had an impressive record of 8-2, before squaring off against the Boston Police Athletic League.

The challenge was graciously accepted by the Boston Police, with a team led by Officer Elvis Garcia, Sgt. Hanson and Deputy Superintendent Nora Batson, who happily traded in their badges for sneakers and three-pointers. And while trained to collect evidence these officers were ready to collect rebounds.

It was obvious right from tip off that both teams wanted to prove who was better. The Ohrenberger team defended their house and their wining record against a team of cops who they considered to be “old.”  Conversely, the police officers were eager to prove that pride has no age limit.

Coach Dotson’s Ohrenberger Owls got off to a slow start as the BPD officers jumped out to a quick 10-3 lead just four minutes into the contest. As the Owls worked out their nerves the large hometown crowd cheered on. Dotson made a few adjustments with great success as the boys mounted a strong comeback.

Youth played a pivotal role as the boys were successful in recovering twice as many rebounds as the Police. Down by only three points with mere seconds left on the clock the Owls pressed on defense and dug deep down to find those three points.

The game was a hard fought battle and both teams showed tremendous effort and talent, however you don’t get the title “Boston’s Finest” by coming in second place.

At the final buzzer the boys of the Ohrenberger experienced a feeling they have not quite grown accustomed to - a loss.  “The boys just ran out of time,“ said one spectator.

As both teams met at half court to congratulate one another on a well played game, there were already whispers of a rematch.