It was a poignant moment Tuesday night when students and
fans of Cosumnes Oaks and Franklin High Schools jam-packed in the Wildcat gym
stood during in a long moment of silence in remembrance for a deceased friend
and classmate.
Cosumnes Oaks’ football player and wrestler Josh Davis
passed away tragically three nights prior in a traffic accident on Bruceville
Road. He was 17.
With both student bodies wearing white, the schools’
basketball teams lined up for opening announcements, the silence was piercing.
A few sobs could be heard.
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| A moment of silence remembering Josh Davis prior to Tuesday's game between Cosumnes Oaks and Franklin |
Cosumnes Oaks
principal Patrick McDougal set the scene:
“Tonight is first and foremost about Josh Davis,” McDougal
said. He went to (Franklin) as a
freshman, went to Toby Johnson for middle school. There’s only two miles
separating our schools and the kids still hang out. I have families who have
kids at each school and so to understand what is going on you have to first
understand all of our kids co-mingle and they all knew Josh as a friend, a
teammate and a classmate. And, he was a kid everyone liked.”
The two teams then took the floor – and as expected – an
inspired Wolfpack basketball team broke away early and won the game, 74-59.
Josh Johnson led the athletic Cosumnes Oaks squad with 21
points followed by Alex Van Dyke with 20, 16 of which came in the first half.
“Josh inspired us a lot. He was an big spot in our lives
individually. He was the bright light we needed and was the spark in our game,”
Van Dyke said. “I’ll remember the most about his smile, his character, his
personality.”
Inspired, yes, but now 6-1 in the young season, the
Wolfpack also showed they are a very talented team. Just ask Franklin’s head
coach Jesse Formaker.
“They dominated us on the offensive rebounds and we turned
the ball over way too much,” he said. “Offensive rebounds and turnovers
resulted in at least half their points. Against an athletic team like that you
cannot give them that many opportunities.”
Formaker’s Wildcats trailed 23-17 after one period, but
Cosumnes Oaks’ 29-11 advantage in the second quarter was the big difference.
“They were far more aggressive than we were,” he added.
Franklin was led by Christian Allen with 15 points and
Marvin Timothy with 13.
Wildcats’ athletic director Mike Cody said fans were turned
away once ticket sales hit capacity. People were sitting in every available
inch of bleacher and standing where they could. Formaker said the big home
crowd was good for his young team.
“We’re still
trying to figure ourselves out,” he said. “We have eight kids that didn’t play
varsity last year who are new to the team so we’re-one-fitting guys in,
two-realizing what it takes to be successful, and games like this playing in
front of a packed house hopefully will cause us to grow.”
One thing the game also did was solidify the brewing
rivalry between the neighboring schools.
“It was that way with Elk Grove, before C.O. was open,”
Formaker said. “We had kids that went to both schools or from the same
neighborhoods. As soon as C.O. opened, the first year we scheduled a game
because we knew these kids grow up going to the same school. It becomes a
natural rivalry.”
“It’s a great high school basketball experience.”
The Wolfpack has won the last two matchups in basketball.
Formaker, though, put the game into proper perspective as far as won-loss
record is concerned.
“The way the Section has realigned the playoffs, it was a
meaningless game,” Formaker said. “It literally means nothing. So, you want as
many games like this as you can to prepare you for the ten league games. That’s
all that matters is the ten league games and hopefully you get through those
into the playoffs.”
Cosumnes Oaks forward L.J. Reed said the win over
Franklin is a glimpse of good things to come this year.
“We’re going to go
far this season, as long as we play like this we’re going to get the ‘W’,” Reed
said.
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