By Isabelle Rogers (@isabellerogers_)
The last time cricket coach William Karcher remembers winning the cricket state title was when he was the assistant coach to now retiree Tom Brennan, approximately 12 years ago.
With the help of cricket captain senior Zayed Nazar, the team won the first game 57-33 against Lake Park during the Illinois State Cricket Championship May 9. The Knights won their second game 39-33 against Rolling Meadows and their third and final game 44-43 against Niles North to win the title.
“Seeing these guys come together and get better [was the best thing about this season],” Karcher said. “They were all working together and this year was really good. Things worked out well. Years ago, we have had problems [with teammates fighting], but [this year’s team] all got along. There [are] no problems between them.”
Though Karcher is ecstatic to have won the state title, he did not expect the team to go as far as they did, because the team only won two out of the six games played during the season.
“We came in as underdogs,” junior Griffin Snead said. “We expected to get out in the first or second game. It was dandy.”
Karcher is incredibly proud of the team, especially Nazar. Nazar took his duties as captain very seriously as he spent time recruiting players, keeping them informed, and was in charge of setting up the practices and field. Nazar became interested in cricket after attending his father’s games and watching cricket on T.V. for years.
“[Nazar] is super,” Karcher said. “He really helps you out, he is easy to get along with and he is the best [captain] I have ever had.”
In terms of the future, Karcher wants to make it easier to get players since many of the team, like Snead, had to be recruited by members of the team. Karcher hopes to get exhibitions of the game during P.E. to get kids interested.
“We would like to get more people out [to the games],” Karcher said. “It’s always hard to find players and people are afraid of cricket. They think, ‘Oh cricket. Well I do not know how to do that.’ We will show them how to do that. [During P.E exhibitions] we can get some new players, and get some excitement going.”