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CHAMPAIGN — Make some more room in De La Salle’s trophy case for more unified basketball hardware.
On March 15, De La Salle joined Homewood-Flossmoor and Bradley-Bourbonnais as one of just three IHSA schools to win three state championships in the sport.
In the Special Olympics Illinois Division II title game at the University of Illinois, the combined team of students from De La Salle and Southside Occupational Academy (SOA) defeated Ray Graham/St. Ignatius 53-30 to provide the Meteors with their third straight state title under coach Tom White.
“This is an awesome, happy feeling that I’ve never had in my life,” said White, a resident of Chicago’s Garfield Ridge community. “This meant something from the first day we met (the student-athletes from SOA). It’s been a great journey to watch the relationships and friendships build between our kids and the special-needs kids and how they’ve developed.
“They are a family. These kids have become a family.”
SOA is located approximately one mile from De La Salle at 27th and Dearborn on Chicago’s South Side.
Devin Martin paced the Meteors in scoring with 19 points. Chaden Harvey added 10 points, Mario Ramirez chipped in seven points off the bench, while Caleb Navarro and Alexander McLaurin contributed six points each.
“This means a lot to win three straight championships,” said Navarro, who will play baseball at St. Xavier next year. “My best friend was in a wheelchair as a kid and was never able to play sports, so this means a lot to me.”
The winner of the 2024 Tony Lawless Award in the Chicago Catholic League White, Ramirez will play soccer at either Lewis or Dominican after graduation.
“This means everything to me because it’s my senior year and I’m able to go out like this,” Ramirez said. “I wanted to make a mark for the South Side and for De La Salle. This was a close team and that really helped us a lot.
“It’s like we are a family.”
Trailing 9-7 after the first quarter, De La Salle outscored its opponents 17-10 to take a 24-19 advantage at intermission. The Meteors outscored Ray Graham/St. Ignatius 29-11 in the second half to secure their grasp of the lead.
“To come here … and win three in a row is a hard thing to do,” De La Salle’s Tim Schergen said. “This means a lot to overcome adversity and pull through and win. Our team chemistry was top-level.”
De La Salle’s winning its third straight state title had additional meaning for principal Tom Schergen, an Evergreen Park resident and the father of Tim.
“It’s great to watch these student-athletes compete together, play together and show the true spirit of unified sports,” Tom Schergen said. “To see that unified effort is great and they win because of that cohesiveness.
“They’ve become friends and it continues beyond the basketball court and into friendships because of this. This is a big group of kids who supported each other and worked well together.”
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