(Greenfield) Nodway Valley won 87 games over the course of TJ Bower’s record setting career. The former All-Stater admits he remembers the losses more than the wins, but one lopsided victory in his junior season brings back some pretty vivid memories.
This Friday on KSOM it’s a classic game re-air featuring Nodaway Valley’s 115-24 win on January 22nd, 2013. One thing he particularly enjoyed was getting a chance to see the bench players succeed. “That was a fun one. One thing I really liked about that game was it was a team effort. We had a bunch of different people coming off the bench and we were really fortunate to put the ball through the hoop a lot that night. I sat on the bench the entire fourth quarter and got to see the guys we scrimmaged against in practice go out and get some buckets, so that was really fun to watch.”
He also recalls the postgame message from coach Darrell Burmeister. “We were having a good time in the locker room and he came in and said, ‘If you guys want to win the whole thing you don’t need to celebrate this.’ That wasn’t a shot at Corning or anything, but he just wanted us to not overlook anyone. His intensity was out of this world.”
Bower remembers the 2012-13 team being incredibly driven. They were all in pursuit of the same goal which was a Class 2A state title. Even though they lost to Kuemper Catholic in the first round at state, they still went 23-2 overall and have a lot to hold their heads high about. “It was fun. I can’t believe it’s been almost eight years ago. It was a blast. We didn’t quite get our ultimate goal, but getting to state was something to be proud of. It’s cool to say we made it to state and that’s something that myself and I’m sure the whole team enjoyed.”
Friday’s classic replay hits the air at 6:00 p.m.
