Colton - Fall Wolves

As Fall rolled around, the Wolves were playing in two leagues. The Gene Fullmer superleague (7th grade middle division) and Dimple Dell (7th grade middle division). As Colton was playing with his 6th grade Grizzlies again, there were a few conflicts, but overall, the schedules worked out (the first and final games were at the exact same time! There were a few back-to-back games, some close enough that Colton made both, others that he missed portions of). 

We added a couple "big" guys, Cyrus and Christian. 

• Game 1 (September 9, 2017) Wolves vs Thunder
• Game 2 (September 16, 2017) Wolves vs Mayhem
• Game 3 (September 23, 2017) Wolves vs Thunder **Colton on Fire
• Game 4 (September 30, 2017) Wolves vs Storm
• Game 5 (October 7, 2017) Wolves vs Select
• Game 6 (October 8, 2017) Wolves vs Ducks
• Game 7 (October 14, 2017) Wolves vs Copper Hills
• Playoff Game 1 - Copper Hills (they forfeited to us)
• Playoff Game 2 - Select (we forfeited to them, it was unwinnable and Wolves had an important game a bit later in the day).  Ducks and Select played in the championship, and while Select had bested the Ducks during the regular season, the Ducks took the playoffs.

Unfortunately, the Gene Fullmer league didn't have enough teams to have both an upper and middle division, so they were combined. The top three teams (Storm, Select and Ducks) were definitely "out of our league" so to say! All the other games were pretty fairly matched (and those three were fairly evenly matched with each other).

The Dimple Dell Middle Division was very evenly matched! Every game was quite close and could have gone either way. Wolves had an undefeated season, right up until the final championship game, when we couldn't quite get the win. Happily, Colton got to play in the championship game. It had been in question as it was originally scheduled at the exact same time as his Grizzlies championship game. Then the Wolves were playing in a tournament that had a scheduling conflict, and Dimple Dell and the other team were kind enough to reschedule. With that ... Colton was able to play! If they'd lost without him there, we would have always wondered if perhaps he could have made the difference. At least now we know that's just how it would go. I never got around to making highlight reels of the Dimple Dell games. Here's one little clip I did post to Instagram though ...

Ah ... the Wolves Fall season in the Dimple Dell league ended and Winter started yesterday ... and I never got around to making videos of those games. This shot was Colton's most memorable. He'd come late (straight from a Grizzlies game) and there was less than a minute left in the half. Enough for Colton to get off a 3 point buzzer beater! #mycoltonclips

A post shared by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on Dec 3, 2017 at 9:29am PST

Grizzlies Again (Fall 2017)

We'd said goodbye to the Grizzlies when Winter came to a close earlier in the year. But come Fall, we got the call ... well, it was a text, asking if Colton could come play on the team again. We were still with the Wolves, but figured we could do double duty like last year. It's a bit more complicated because of the ball though. 7th graders play with the full size ball, while 6th graders still use the smaller 28.5 one. Colton said he thought he'd be okay switching between the two. 

When the schedules came out, I always check them with baited breath. For the first game ... the Grizzlies and the Wolves played at the exact same time. Colton played with the Wolves, and the Grizzlies still got the win without him. For the rest of the season, while there were some back to back games, there were no other direct conflicts ... until the final Championship. Again, championship games at exactly the same time. Happily, the Wolves one was changed and Colton was able to play in both. Grizzlies were able to get the win! 5 and 2 during the season, they beat the #1 ranked Fire for a rematch with the #2 ranked Legends ... and beat them that time!

• Game #1. Grizzlies vs Flash. 09/09/2017 (Colton conflict w/Wolves)
• Game #2. Grizzlies vs Bulls. 09/16/2017
• Game #3. Grizzlies vs Murray. 09/23/2017
• Game #4. Grizzlies vs Knights. 9/30/2017
• Game #5. Grizzlies vs UBC. 10/7/2017
• Game #6. Grizzlies vs Legends. 10/14/2017 (just Colton Clips)
• Game #7. Grizzlies vs Swarm. 10/17/2017
• Playoffs Round One. Grizzlies vs Riverton. 10/28/2017
• Semi-Finals. Grizzlies vs Fire. 11/04/2017
• Championship Game. Grizzlies vs Legends. 11/18/2017

Pictured above ... 

Colton, Daxton, Tannic, Tayden, Blyke, Tyler (front) AJ and Austin.
Not Pictured - Jack (and Freeman)

Colton - Summer Wolves

Summer can be a bit crazy ... we did have a few family trips to Pineview, and a summer vacation to Seattle/Canada. Colton did miss one of his games for the trip, and went to one (game 4) but didn't play, as a bad blister on his baby toe was just too painful (the team still got the win without him).  There was also a tournament at the South Towne Convention center ... Colton just played the Thursday game before heading out of town for a St. George getaway 

Wolves played in the Dimple Dell league. 

As the school season ended, the boys moved up to the 7th grade division. 

• Game 1 (July 10, 2017) Wolves vs Panthers
• Game 2 (July 15, 2017) Wolves vs Park City
• Game 3 (August 4, 2017) Wolves vs Salt City Hustle
• Game 4 (August 19) Wolves vs Utah Club Black
• Game 6/Playoffs (August 26, 2017) Wolves vs Panthers
• Game 7/Playoffs (August 30, 2017) Wolves vs Legends

Manzanarous is in the team photo, but he moved on mid-season. Siah joined the Wolves, and most of the summer was played with seven players. 

Colton - Spring Wolves

At the end of the Winter season, the Wolves got new uniforms. Black and white with red shooting shirts. This Spring season was a little tough. Playing in the Dimple Dell 6th grade middle division, we ended up 1 and 7. Just the one win to start the season. I must admit, I got a little lazy. Even though there are always highlights, even with a loss, sometimes it's just not worth the effort of going through the clips and making the muvees. Still did a few though.

• Game 1 (April 1, 2017) Wolves vs E3
• Game 2 (April 15, 2017) Wolves vs Dash
• Game 3 (April 22, 2017) Wolves vs Empire
• Game 4 (April 26, 2017) Wolves vs Chargers
• Game 5 (May 7, 2017) Wolves vs Sonics
• Game 6 (May 13, 2017) Wolves vs East
• Game 7 (May 13, 2017) Wolves vs Storm
• Game 8 (May 20, 2017) Wolves vs Chargers

The Wolves also played in an AAU Memorial Day tournament ... won two, lost one. Not sure why I never got around to making highlight reels here. I just forgot, and then it was too far in the past. We lost a few team members ... one of our Issaics and one of our Collins. Isaiah too. 

Colton - Spring Grizzlies

Colton and his Grizzlies played Spring Season in the Gene Fullmer 5th grade league. Happily, we didn't really have many conflicts with his Wolves games. I didn't make a muvee of the first game ... it was against a girls team and the Grizzlies killed, even holding back. I did make highlight reels of the other season games, although I never got around to the final one (although you know I would have if it had been a win!)  

• Game 1 (Grizzlies vs Girls) March 25, 2017
• Game 2 (Grizzlies vs Summit) March 25, 2017
• Game 3 (Grizzlies vs Flash) April 1, 2017
• Game 4 (Grizzlies vs Elite) April 8, 2017
• Game 5 (Grizzlies vs Elite) April 22, 2017
• Game 6 (Grizzlies vs Fast&Furious) April 29, 2017
• Game 7 (Grizzlies vs Flash) May 6, 2017 ** Colton on FIRE
• Game 8 (Grizzlies vs Ballers) May 13, 2017
• Semi-Finals (Grizzlies vs Ballers) June 3, 2017
• Finals (Grizzlies vs Elite) June 10, 2017 (loss 27-32)

This was the final season we had with Coach Springer and his son Freeman. 

We will really miss them both. 

Their family is moving to St. George.

The Grizzlies will NOT be playing summer ... but will be back in the Fall. 

Keaton - Spring & Summer 2017

Once the regular season came to a close, Copper Hills and the other schools play in a Spring League to prep the continuing kids (sorry seniors!) for next year. While still sophomores, Keaton's crew were now considered JV. There were still lots of boys, so there were two JV teams, and some kids played on both. 

I didn't make it to every game, and didn't make highlight videos of every game I did ... here's a link to the playlist (Keaton Spring JV).  Here's highlights, just Keaton Clips, of one of his best games ...

Catching up with Keaton ... clips from last Monday's game. He had 23 points (I didn't include all his foul shots). Had to sit out some in the second half with four fouls. I think the other team would have liked him to foul out 😜🏀 #keatonclips

A post shared by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on May 7, 2017 at 7:18pm PDT

Then in the Summer, the boys did the Ute's camp/tournament, the Grizzlies camp and of course the favorite, St. George Tournament.  There, the boys took the three-minute tournament and scored some t-shirts.

... and thus ended Keaton's high school basketball days. He decided not to try out for the team come Fall ... but he and some friends are still going to play in Junior Jazz.

Callahan - Varsity!

Callahan's senior year! Varsity! There are seven seniors ... Ben, Callahan, Parker, Stockton, Sam, Rowland and Daxton (Mason decided not to play this year, Trevon is a sophomore). 

One of the best things ...

Callahan is now #2

Being second born, he's always been my #2 ... as I refer to my children numerically.

So, here's the schedule.

If you want to keep up with the Blackham basketball boys on social media, I keep a Facebook  (JenB-BasketballMom) as well as Instagram and Twitter ... there I include info about upcoming games, post pictures, share video highlights and shout out scores. Subscribe to my BasketballCalYouTube channel for video clips or to catch up on past games.

Here's a link to the Copper Hills Varsity Season highlights.

We also had some people taking professional pictures.
I'd make Cal Collages with my favorites!

They had a perfect season at home. First time beating Bingham on our home turf in years! Other than a loss to Bingham on their court, the boys won the away games too. This put them at the top spot in Region #3. Well, shared with Bingham (same record, only losing to us the one time). 

Region Champs!

Then it was on to the State Playoffs! The first game was up at the University of Utah, and Dad, Landon and Colton (as well as Maga, Clay and cousin Sammy) went to watch. As it was being streamed live, Mommy opted to watch from home. The live stream was continued, as the games moved further to Weber University. Dad still hit them live. Unfortunately, Copper Hills lost the coin flip and entered the playoffs as the second seed, which was a slightly more difficult route to the playoffs. They won the first game against Weber. The quarter final game against Layton, then lost in the semi-finals to Lone Peak. Bingham and Lone Peak played for the championship and Bingham won it. In the playoffs, it's hard as for all the teams but one, our seniors leave on a loss. High school basketball is now over. What will Callahan (and Mommy) do ...

A couple more Cal Collages from the playoffs ...

I'm not sure if this link will stay active forever - but here's all the Cal photos.

Grizzlies Go Green

Basketball Season 2016-2017

Colton & his Grizzlies (5th Grade)

New uniforms for the Colton and his crew. 

Don't they look awesome?!

The 5th grade Grizzlies are playing in the Bantam League. This league is generally for school teams, within a school boundary (unlike some of the top competitive teams that pick the best players from across the valley). I'm not sure if there wasn't enough interest at this level to field a 5th grade division, because there are a couple non-school teams, and we have to play the same teams twice. LOVE that all the games are so close to home, though (once at WJ, all others at CHHS). We didn't have any official practices (hard to find a gym) but had a few at a church throughout the season. 

I keep a playlist of Colton's games, but as it showcases ALL his games,  I'll include a list of just this season there as well. 

• Game 1. Grizzlies vs Herriman (12/03/2016)
• Game 2. Grizzlies vs Jets (12/10/2016)
• Game 3. Grizzlies vs Jordan (12/17/2016)
• Game 4. Grizzlies vs Jordan (01/07/2017)
• Game 5. Grizzlies vs UBC (02/14/2017)
• Game 6. Grizzlies vs Herriman (02/21/2017)
• Game 7. Grizzlies vs Jets (02/04/2017)
• Game 8. Grizzlies vs UBC (02/04/2017)
• Game 9. Grizzlies vs Herriman (02/11/2017)
• Semi-Finals: Grizzlies vs UBC (02/18/2017)
• Championship: Grizzlies vs Jets (02/25/2017)

Good Job Grizzlies!

Colton and the Winter Wolves (6thGrade)

Colton and the Wolves are continuing to play during the official basketball season. Winter Wolves! They are participating in two leagues, the Dimple Dell Superleague (middle division) and the Murray TopFlight League

Dimple Dell 6th Grade Saturday Superleague

• Game 1. December 3, 2016.Wolves vs SLC Future
• Game 2. December 10, 2016. Wolves vs Skyridge
• Game 3. December 17, 2016. Wolves vs South Valley Legends 
• Game 4. January 7, 2017. Wolves vs Lehi
• Game 5. January 28, 2017. Wolves vs East
• Game 6. January 28, 2017. Wolves vs Bengals
• Game 7. February 4, 2017. Wolves vs Dash
• Playoff Game 1. February 11, 2017. Wolves vs Lehi
• Playoff Game 2. February 25, 2017. Wolves vs Sonics

Murray TopFlight Tuesday League

• Game 1. January 10, 2017. Wolves vs Olympus
• Game 3. January 24, 2017. Wolves vs Stallions
• Game 4. January 31, 2017. Wolves vs A-Train
• Game 5. February 7, 2017. Wolves vs Premiere
• Game 7. February 21, 2017. Wolves vs Murray

With Colton playing on two teams, both playing in a Saturday league, I was concerned about game conflicts. Happily, HE didn't have any (I had some, when Colton's team and Cooper's team would play at the same time). On Tuesday nights, the high school had their games, and I was afraid I'd miss most of Colton's Murray games, but again, we lucked out with late games (9:00 start), which I usually hate, but was happy with here, because then I could still come after Callahan's game finished up. 

We also played in Dimple Dell's Christmas Tournament 

(Game 1, Game 2, Game 3)

Keaton - Sophomore Season

Tryouts for the high school sophomore team were the second week of November. Keaton was pretty nervous, and was glad he made the cut. There was quite a bit of competition. Seven sophomores, five freshmen. Twelve total. 

He's #3 ... which thrills his mommy (because he's child #3 and she refers to her children numerically quite often).

The boys in blue ... (when away)

While JV and Varsity practice together, sophomores have their own time, so I am back to picking him up from school on B days (A days, practice is right after school), and then running him to and from practice. 

Keaton Clips ...

Quick clips of Keaton in action today! I love to see him play. I will be posting full game highlights tomorrow.

A video posted by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on Jan 3, 2017 at 9:08pm PST

Highlights of Keaton's games may be a little more hit and miss ... he doesn't seem to care if I make highlight reels (and it's a lot of work if he doesn't care) and at times he's specifically asked me NOT to video or take pictures.  He also didn't get a lot of playing time in the pre-season, and I do tend to like to make videos that feature MY kid ;)   I'm very glad I went to the final preseason game against Hunter, because it was a great win! (Instagram Keaton clips above, full highlights HERE).

Here's the Sophomore Season playlist.

... and a couple Keaton Collages.

Dropbox photos of the Sophomore season!

Cooper's Comeback (7th Grade)

While you can't find a bigger fan (he knows all the stats, watches all the games) and he's got the skills, Cooper has struggled a bit actually playing on a team in a competitive setting. Even rec ball and Junior Jazz proved to be a bit too intense (he bailed on his season back in 4th grade, didn't play 5th, then couldn't quite finish the season in 6th). I was honestly surprised when he said he wanted to play again this year ... and he says he's ready and committed.

Coming in with a group of friends (basically the same team as 6th grade, although they haven't practiced or played together since the season ended last year), they are playing in the "team/experienced" division, so I hope it's not too hard (competitive teams SHOULD be playing in leagues other than Junior Jazz, but it's not always the case). All their games are  close  (Joel P.) 

I keep a playlist of all Cooper's games, 

and will also include a list and some highlights here.

Cooper clips from Saturday's game (1203). Complete game highlights on YouTube (I'll update the blog) ;)

A video posted by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on Dec 6, 2016 at 7:19am PST

It was a successful season! I had been a bit worried going in. This was the "Team Division" not the regular rec Junior Jazz. I was worried that there might be some superleague teams, good players and teams who had been working together for a while. Our boys were just a group of school buddies and hadn't played together since last year. But ... I think that was the case with all the teams (superleague teams had gone to the superleagues, as it should be). Our boys won all but one game. 7-1 for the season. Poor Ryan broke his ankle halfway through the season and was out (but still came and cheered). Cooper got a little extra playing time filling in (as Ryan was also point guard) so Cooper often managed 20 points in the final few games. Pretty impressive!

• Game 1  December 3, 2016
• Game 2  December 10, 2016
• Game 3  December 17, 2016
• Game 4  January 7, 2017
• Game 5  January 14, 2017
• Game 6  January 21, 2017
• Game 7  January 28, 2017

I only caught half of Cooper's final (8th) game. We had back-to-back games that day, with Colton playing before at Eastmont. On a previous back-to-back day (Cooper first) I'd sent Colton with teammates and hadn't even planned on attempting the trek (it was at Indian Hills, a little further away). But then Cooper's game wrapped up so quick that I quickly arranged for a teammate to give him a ride home and booked it the moment the final buzzer buzzed. While I missed a couple minutes, I really hadn't missed much. I had HOPED this day would be the same ... had arranged for Cooper to get a ride to his game with a teammate and told Colton's coach we'd be rushing right after. It didn't work out well ... I missed the entire first half. Here's the highlights from the second half ...

Catching up with Cooper... his final Junior Jazz game. I was late, coming straight from Colton's game. Here's the highlights I have (only half the game).

A post shared by BlackhamBall (@blackhamball) on Mar 12, 2017 at 11:20am PDT

The boys got together a few times to play ball on their own too.
I'm so grateful to this group of friends Cooper has!