Springfield girls basketball players celebrate the District 1 Championship title after defeating Harriton 46-39 Wednesday evening at Springfield High School Wednesday evening at Springfield High School. (PETE BANNAN/MEDIANEWS GROUP)
By Terry Toohey
There are no championship banners hanging in the Blue Gym at the recently opened, Springfield High School.
Don’t worry, it’s not an oversight. Getting the sparkling, state-of-the-art building up and running in the middle of a school year was the first priority. Adding amenities such as championship banners and the logos for all 12 Central League schools had to take a back seat.
Besides, a shiny new facility deserves pristine banners. New ones are on order for championship teams, individual state champs, 1,000-point members and 100-win wrestlers and should be up in a few weeks, athletic director Glenn Mallon said.
And when those banners are raised, there will be one more to order, after the Cougars claimed their second straight District 1 Class 5A title and third in the last five years with a 46-39 over Central League rival Harriton Wednesday night.
As with most championship banners, it will just reflect the year, not what the team had to go through to compile a 20-0 record, win a league and district championship in the same year for the first time in program history and to do it in the middle of a global pandemic as the Cougars have. It will not list the sacrifices the players and coaches were willing to make just to have a season.