With about a minute left until their team hoisted the 2012 District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association trophy, the home crowd at Coolidge Senior High School began chanting "COOLIDGE! COOLIDGE!" The chant officially marked the start of the celebration of the Colts' first city league championship since 1988. When the buzzer sounded on their 64-53 victory over Theodore Roosevelt, the Colts and their fans rushed the court in glee. Coolidge defeated Roosevelt on February 25 to earn a chance at the city title in two weeks, when they will face off against the winner of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC), whoever that may be.
"It doesn't matter," Coolidge coach Vaughn Jones said about his preferred opponent in the title game. "We've played all those guys this summer at DeMatha [Hyattsville, Md]. It's up in the air and I don't know who's going to win that, but I look forward to trying to win the first City title since I've been here."
In front of a packed gymnasium, Coolidge exploded to a 23-13 lead in the first quarter before easing up in the second and leading by only four points at the break. The Colts would rev the engine up again in the third quarter as they leapt out to a 13-point lead and simply cruised for the rest of the game. Behind guards DeShaun Morman (19 points) and Khalen Cumberlander (12 points), the Colts were in good hands.
"It feels great and it's a great feeling," Cumberlander, a senior, said. Coolidge (29-6) routed Roosevelt (18-11) in a meeting in early February, 83-58. But with a chance for revenge on the line, the Colts (16-0 in conference play) weren't about to lose on their home floor.