A touch of "March Madness" - December 2007

Submitted March 2025 by Historian Anita M. Mance

In March 1962. the ER Varsity Basketball team won the Section V, AA Championship by beating Lyons in double overtime, 58-57. In 1963, the Bombers beat East High, 42-40 in tile closing seconds of regular play-thus winning the Section V. M Championship again. During both seasons, the ER Bombers won all of their games.

In March 2008, the Bombers won the Section V, CC Championship by beating Ganancla, 52-42. It was the Bombers' first championship in 45 years. The team had only one loss during the season. That occurred when ER played an exhibition game against a team from the San Francisco area at Disney World during Christmas vacation. That game made headlines for very unique reasons.

It all started several months before the holiday wt1en Coach Mark Michele and several of the players' fathers thought about doing something special for the team. Many of the boys had been together since fifth grade playing youth basketball. The fathers decided to take a trip to Disney Worlct in Orlando, and have the team take part in the KSA Holiday Basketball Tournament. With a lot of fundraising support, nine team members of the eleven-man team made the trip. One, Marshall Cowey, had badly sprained his ankle and was not able to play, but went along to support his teammates. The other players who made the trip were: Sean M1cl1ele, Anthony Danizio, Ben Bouchard, Phil Pizzingrilli, Conor Boyer, Billy Fornataro, Logan Scalise, and David Vosburgh.

The Bombers were scheduled to play three games. Their first opponent was a team from Fieldston Academy from the Bronx. ER won, 48-39. The second game was the next day against a team from Salesian Catholic School from the San Francisco area. The game made newspaper headlines by lastrng over three hours, and ended with Salesian winning, 115-111 after five overtimes! The team from Salesian had 15 players; ER had 8. At the end of regulation play the game was tied, 61-61. Five of the Bombers were still able to play - Sean, Anthony, Ben, Conor, and Billy. As the game progressed into overtime, many people from other games in the sports complex came to watch. During the fourth quarter, bot11 Ant11ony and Conor fouled out-leaving our team with only three players. By the end of the fourth overtime, the score was tied, 106-106. And by the last seconcts of t11e fifth overtime, ER had only two players on the court - Sean fouled out leaving just Ben and Billy! While our players lost the game, they earned a lot of respect from the onlookers anet the opposing players and coaches. Many came to congratulate them for their sportsmanship and never giving up. The next day, ER's opponent was a tenm from Friends Seminary of Long Island. The Bombers won, 47-46 in overtime. Out of the 40 te.ims playing in the tournament, ER was ranked third. While the Bombers were able to enjoy many of ttie sites in Disney World, their accomplishments on the court were what they remembered the most.

The current ER Varsity Basketball team won the Section V, Class B2 Championship earlier this montl1 by beating Avon, 57-56. This was ER's first clwmpionsliip since 2012. While they lost their next game against the Class Blteam from World of Inquiry, 61-52, and were not able to continue to the state meets, the Bombers had a very successful season - another championship season in ER's sports history.