KEENE – Isaac Jarvis had envisioned this moment for four years.
“I wrote down on a piece of paper my goals for high school,” Jarvis said. “And I wrote, ‘Make it to a championship, maybe win a championship.’ ”
When Jarvis set that goal, the Concord Christian Academy boys’ basketball team was at the bottom of the Division IV heap, a program that considered a handful of wins a good season. The Kingsmen’s turnaround from D-IV cellar dweller to state champion fell one step short on Friday night, but it took a perfect team, with a perfect season to take them down.
The No. 1 Woodsville Engineers capped an undefeated season with a 58-49 victory over No. 2 Concord Christian at Keene State College’s Spaulding Gym to win back-to-back D-IV crowns.
Jarvis played like the Division IV Player of the Year that he is, dropping 27 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. He and freshman Brode Frink (seven points, five rebounds) helped CCA (20-2) open the game with a 6-0 lead, but Woodsville’s Elijah Flocke scored 18 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter to break open a tightly contested final.
“Woodsville is a heck of a team,” Jarvis said. “I don’t think we could have done anything different, to be honest. We played our hearts out. We couldn’t have done anything more.”
Junior guard Aiden Duffy (six points, two assists) and senior forward Jake Turner also played especially well early in the game to help Concord Christian take the lead. But All-State First Team senior Cam Tenney-Burt (18 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks) went on a tear, helping tie the game, 11-11, at the end of the first quarter and leading Woodsville (22-0) to a slight edge, 23-19 at halftime. Tenney-Burt had 15 of his points in the first half alone.
Flocke hit a 3-pointer early in the third to give the Engineers a 28-21 lead – at that point the largest margin in the game by either team – but junior guard Ethan Young (six points, three steals, three assists) hit a jumper while getting knocked down, had a steal and layup on the fast break and drove to the hoop through traffic for another CCA bucket.
Frink had a 3 in between, and that 9-0 run put the Kingsmen back on top, 30-28, with 2:40 left in the third quarter.
“(We were telling each other) to keep our heads in the game, to keep our heads in it on defense and keep trusting each other,” Jarvis said. “That’s what we did all game, trust each other.”
Trailing 34-30 heading into the fourth, Jarvis did well getting to the rim and Duffy connected on a 3 to cut the deficit to 38-37, but Flocke went on a 12-0 run all by himself to give Woodsville a 50-37 lead (the game’s largest) with 2:09 remaining.
Woodsville junior Camden Davidson (11 points, five rebounds, two assists, block, steal) was the general on both ends of the court, and Flocke – a D-IV All-Defensive Team pick, just like Jarvis – helped the Engineers lock things down defensively.
“Without a doubt (they’re the best defensive team),” CCA head coach Eric Heizer said.
“They also (defend) a little differently than most teams. They’re trapping and switching, they’re very alert, they’re very well-coached. We knew that coming in, we just didn’t execute.”
“They packed the paint on us, and we didn’t have an answer for them,” said Turner, a CCA co-captain along with Jarvis. “They’re a heck of a team, they have depth, and we just didn’t match up well with them.”
Jarvis was able to chip into the lead a little bit, but Concord Christian’s offense was less efficient over the final five minutes. Woodsville collapsed on Jarvis and Frink to hold them in check inside, and the Kingsmen struggled to shoot from 3-point range (4-for-16). The Engineers shot 7-for-14 from deep.
“We didn’t do a good job of kicking it back out and taking what (Woodsville) was giving us,” Heizer said. “We were a little bit impatient and forced some stuff, and next thing you know, Flocke’s hit some big shots and opened the game up.”
“We got some stops and made some shots,” Woodsville head coach Jamie Walker said. “That’s what we talked about, one more stop, one more stop. We tried to keep (CCA) on the left side of the floor. Jarvis and the other guys were making all of those shots going right, but when we had them going left they passed it off, so we concentrated on getting to the left side of the floor.”
While it’s not the storybook ending that could’ve been, Concord Christian deservedly kept its head up.
The Kingsmen ended last season with a 6-5 record in the quarterfinals (also losing to Woodsville in that one) and only won three games in the 2019-20 season, at the end of a decade filled with losing campaigns, no playoff victories and a couple of one-win seasons.
“They’ve gone through a lot of adversity and every time we come out stronger,” Heizer said. “We’ve built a strong foundation and bond with each other. They’re good kids; it’s fun to coach them. It’s bitter to end like this, but we gave them what we had.”
That foundation of returning players includes All-State Second Team pick Frink, starting guards Duffy and Young and a deep bench, although CCA will be losing some size and experience up front with the departure of Jarvis, Turner and senior forward Colby Carlile (three points).
“Our coach (Heizer), he brought us in two years ago and he changed the culture,” Turner said. “I can’t thank him enough for that.”
“We didn’t get the job done, but we proved we’re a team to reckon with,” added Jarvis, a four-year player for the Kingsmen who will be suiting up for Gordon College next year. “I’m proud of my boys and where we’ve come from.”