Belen Jesuit wins school's first state basketball championship
MIAMI - It was a good weekend for Miami-Dade high school basketball teams.
Four of them won state championships this weekend. The prize was especially sweet for Belen Jesuit.
"They didn't think we'd do this" So Cool Man."
Two days after winning the school's first state basketball championship, head coach Gaston "Chachi" Rodriguez could barely hold back the tears as his basketball champs were celebrated by the whole student body.
"I cried like six times on the way to work. I had to put on my sunglasses, so people wouldn't think who's think lunatic and why is he sobbing in a car by himself."
It is Rodriguez's 3rd state championship at three different schools. And... as his squad... and the hardware made their way up on stage, Chachi felt his team was an inspiration.
"It was great to see all these young people understand that anything is possible and why not them."
Senior reserve Alejandro Lopez hit the biggest shot in school history... a buzzer-beater in the semifinal that sent the Wolverines into the championship game. Something that he may have never accomplished without a little perseverance.
"Sixth grade I didn't make the team. Seventh grade, I didn't try out. Eighth grade, I didn't make the team and then ninth grade, I finally made the team."
"It's the desire to do more, which is what our school's founded on and it couldn't have happened to a greater group of kids and a greater person like Alex."
Point guard Javi Rosell led a group of 7 seniors who have been playing together since middle school.
Rosell did so while his mother Christy battled stage 4 Lung Cancer. He says this team got him through a dark time.
"Being here since 7th grade, this whole school is your family. You want to make your family proud. Being able to receive that adversity and come through on top not just on the basketball court but in life like coach Chachi is always telling me and having a group around you that is going to help you overcome that adversity there is no better feeling."
Belen won the state's biggest prize in hoops even though this basketball team did not have the biggest athletes, Nevertheless, this team brought home the big prize from Lakeland. Thanks to playing a smart brand of basketball even its rivals came to appreciate
"I had a coach up there say that we played like every coach would want a team to play. That every coach would want to coach this team. They are right. This is beautiful."