No lead is safe against the Foothills Falcons.
Showcasing its trademark resiliency, the Falcons rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to upend the No. 7 ranked Archbishop O’Leary Spartans 77-75 to claim the Legendary Bobcat Bowl senior boys basketball tournament championship Saturday night in Calgary.
“Our guys are incredible,” said Falcons coach Amron Gwilliam. “They battle and work so hard, it doesn’t matter what the score is, they never give up.
“They just find a way and it’s not always the same guys every weekend, but they find a way.”
Falcons sharpshooting guard Jerry Baker, the tournament MVP, took the spotlight in the tournament final with his clutch shooting and shutdown defence down the stretch.
“Jerry has been playing unbelievable basketball all weekend,” the coach added. “He’s been shooting the ball really well, but what most people don’t see is he plays great defence, has great energy and is a great teammate.
“And he’s not just scoring from the outside either, he’s developed his game. He’s taking the ball to the rim, he’s got that mid-range game, he’s scoring at a few levels.”

Baker keyed the comeback in the fourth quarter with a four-point play off the hop, followed by two consecutive three-pointers with Drew Byam knocking down a shot from DeWinton.
“That (four-point play) kind of changed the whole game right there,” Baker said. “We needed to lock in on defence. We were playing timid the first few quarters and we just needed to start playing like ourselves.
“I think it’s just our grit, we have a lot of grit and we don’t back down from anyone, even if we’re losing or they’re hitting shots on us, we’re not going to stop playing our game.”
The guard’s contested three-pointer in the final minute, followed by some near misses on both ends, held up as the winning points for the Comp against a Spartans team with a significant height and reach advantage.
“I feel like we gave up 100 rebounds, but we pulled down some key ones, guys stepped in and took a couple of charges,” Gwilliam said. “It’s an amazing group of guys who’ve got great heart.”
Baker elicited chants of ‘Jerry, Jerry’ from not only the boisterous Falcons supporters, but won over the gymnasium at large with his clutch shooting performances.
“That was awesome,” Baker said. “It felt super unreal and it was just getting me going with my adrenaline and everything.”
Foothills, No. 6 ranked at the 4A level, downed Our Lady of the Rockies 77-56, edged Strathcona 67-57 and bested the Cardston Cougars 84-80 to get to the tournament final.
“It means a lot, we wanted to win this tournament to prove that we can win provs,” Baker added. “We needed to win four games straight and this tournament was huge for us.”
It’s the first time the Falcons have won the 16-team tournament, co-hosted by All Saints and Bishop O’Byrne.
Medallists at a number of tournament appearances this season, including bronze at the Sugar Bowl and Knights Classic, the Bowl represented the Falcons’ first title this season.
“We’ve been close a lot,” the coach added. “So it’s nice to get over that hump and hopefully we can ride that and now go into our next couple of weekends and keep getting better.”
