The Assist 211-280

Summary
Charlestown is entering the playoffs with strong momentum. They were going to be playing at the court of the Boston Celtics. They felt like playing like the Celtics as Ridley said with pride, he would be playing like Paul Pierce tonight. The players huddled together in the locker room and said their prayers as they begin the game versus Catholic Memorial. As the game started, the Charlestown players were looking sloppy, Catholic Memorial was on a 20-12 lead. Spot and Hood was off their game, where Ridley brought on a show with 23 points, which gave Charlestown High the win, 63-52. They were going to the state finals. O'Brien's coaching career had succeeded him into going to his fifth trip to the state championship game.

(It was the last football game of the season (2009) between the two rivalry exam schools, O'Bryant vs. Boston Latin Academy, and we had nothing to lose. If Boston Latin Academy lost, they would not have gone to the city champs. During the game, we made the first touchdown, as the score was 6-0. We played defensively until BLA added 2 points to the scoreboard, by scoring a safety. Seconds were running off the clock, where BLA's quarterback threw a far pass to get a touchdown. They did not complete the pass, where O'Bryant beat BLA, 6-2. We cheered with excitement, as BLA wept their hearts out.)

In the state championship game, Charlestown was facing Oakmont. The Oakmont fans were talking about how dynamic the Charlestown team were, but as shown in the beginning of the quarter, they were on a slump. This game, O'Brien used the full court press, where Oakmont were used to slow-tempo teams, which made it difficult for them as their players were confused. Ridley continued his outbreak from the game against Catholic Memorial, as he began to emerge through the Oakmont defense. He began soaring over their players, making electrifying dunks and 3-pointers. Ridley's dominating performance lead to a 68-48 win, which placed Charlestown as the state champions! The Charlestown players charged onto the court with victory. They huddled together and chanted one last time.

Quote
"People criticize him around Boston, but they don't know all he does for his guys" (Swidey 225).

Reaction
People criticize O'Brien as a selfish man who only cared about winning, but the quote tells the real truth. O'Brien was proud of this team, where all five of the seniors were going to college. As Ridley wanted, he got the Division I scholarship to the University of Toledo. Hood could get a Division II scholarship at Adelphi, Spot had a postgraduate year ahead at Westminister, where he only had to be $500. Other players like George and Robby had acceptance letters from Salem State, where Robby got one from Virginia's Radford University.