By Greg Stiles

More than once as his Crater Comets roared through the winter earning national notice, coach David Heard encouraged his team to enjoy the ride.

Even as they headed for what seemed to be the inevitable showdown with Oregon City for the state championship, Heard reminded them they shouldn’t judge the season by what happened March 3.

"Unfortunately," concedes Heard, "that’s going to be our last memory and the memory of the people who watched the game on TV."

It’s hard to wash away the memory of Oregon City’s 48-30 coronation — especially in light of the fact the Comets believed the state championship was going to be theirs.

"My job is now to make sure these young ladies are feeling good about themselves and what they did this season," Heard says. "We had so many more successes than just one night — a bad 32 minutes. Or I try to tell myself that."

Crater won a school-record 25 games this season. During the tenure of four-year veterans Jody McLeod and Janell Sapienza, Crater was 89-19, lost just seven Southern Oregon Conference games, won three SOC titles and played in three state championship games.

That 90th win would’ve been a perfect ending for McLeod, Sapienza and fellow seniors Bre Johnson and Carissa Nafie. But it wasn’t to be.

The Comets were spent emotionally after their 57-51 overtime victory the night before against Jesuit. The best offensive team Heard had in his seven seasons was only a shadow of itself.

"It’s kind of embarrassing to go back to school," Heard says. "We knew that we’re much better than we showed. It was a hard week."

Heard woke up Sunday morning, thinking it was all a bad dream.

"I laid there for another hour until I got tired thinking about the game and thought I’d better get busy," he says.

Even when the shots were gone and the rebounds — and everything else Crater strove for — were out of reach, the Comets kept their humor.

Crater uses folding chairs during timeouts. Players on the bench pull them out and set them up for players on the floor. Because TV timeouts last twice as long as typical timeouts, Heard was through with his instructions.

"The girls didn’t realize how long those TV timeouts were and stood up," Heard says. "After a while they sat back down. But Nafie had picked one of the stools up and (freshman Whitney) Black just hit the deck. Carissa said afterwards, ‘I just wanted to lighten up the moment.’"

After the postgame handshakes, the distribution of trophies and medals and a time to mingle with family and friends, the Comets gathered in the locker room one more time.

"I just told them to try to remember all the good times, the fun times together," Heard says. "Winning the conference championship and being unbeaten in league."

The coach shared his memory of walking out of Memorial Coliseum his senior year after Ashland High had lost its last game.

"I remember that empty feeling," he recalls. "I told the seniors there are mixed emotions whether you win or lose. When you’re done, you’re leaving a family you’ve had for four years. You’re moving on. It’s not like college, where people come and go. There’s nothing like high school."

In the end, there were tearful farewells.

"You just hold them and they cry on your shoulders like one of your own kids," Heard says.

During the course of the season, Heard heeded his own advice and enjoyed the ride.

"This is probably one of the most fun years I’ve had," he says. "I didn’t have to worry about anybody’s grades — they had a 3.6 GPA as a team. The kids were fun just to be around this year. I made it a goal to enjoy this season and I think we did that. It just flew by, that’s a sign we were having a good time together."

The team spent a lot of time laughing together and sharing memories.

"That’s what high school athletics are about," the coach says, "and what all high school athletics should be about."

Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4483, or e-mail gstiles@mailtribune.com 

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