The 2021-22 basketball season was a season many players and fans were looking forward to reaching.  It had been about two years without playoffs or real competition between schools during the Winter due to COVID-19.  Aside from the competitors, fans were also not able to attend the 2020-21 season games in Maine, and they were happy to attend and support their school’s programs once again.  Athletes from Maine had been patiently awaiting for November to approach so the season could start and basketball would be back for good.  Here in Biddeford, our team was able to make a little playoff run and have a successful comeback season.  We finished with a record of 3-14, but the record doesn’t reflect the skill or success our team had this season.  From the start we had made a goal between coaches and players to win at least one playoff game this year.  This season would end up being a success for our team’s own goals, as well as a success at bringing the community back together to enjoy watching their students and schools compete.  Here’s how the season went.  

We started our season against our toughest opponent we would see this season, an away game at Falmouth.  We got beat pretty badly and started off with a loss, however, the team used this as a wake up call, and came back to win against Gray-New Gloucester during our home opener at Tiger Gym.  We then went on a 5 game losing streak that included four away games and only one home loss.  Specifically during this losing streak, our two point loss at Westbrook stung the most.  That was a very winnable game that we lost on the last possession of the game with a final score of 45-43.  Although we were losing some games we shouldn’t have lost, we were still improving as a team and would continue to get better at practice, preparing for our next game.  We then went on a two game winning streak at home with solid wins over Mt. Ararat and Brunswick, two teams with a similar record as our own.  This would be the last time we won a game for the regular season, but the wins and losses were not the takeaway from this season.  

Since every team made the playoffs this year due to the rules that were made prior to this season, we knew we would be there, just not who we would play yet.  When we reached the end of the season, we were handed the 11th seed for the playoffs, and had to play at Freeport in the first round.  We had a couple tough practices before to get ready for our biggest game yet.  During the game against Freeport, it was a real fight that stayed close through all four quarters.  We ended up persevering and won by a point 55-54.  This win was what we had been working for as a team all season, our one playoff win.  All the tough close losses we went through at the start of the season helped us prepare to be in a similar situation in important games, and we were able to win in the playoffs.  Overall, the 2021-22 season brought back some competitive fire that was missing in high schools for a couple years now.