One word to describe the start of Haldane’s varsity boys basketball season is “interesting,” stated Coach Joe Virgadamo. The team has a good balance of returners and new faces, all getting along amid the significant number of injuries resulting from the fall’s football season.
The team, as of January 28, has a record of 5-8, which does not reflect the effort put in from the entire team. Virgadamo describes the team’s chemistry as “fabulous” and how each player is known as a “battle brother.” The primary struggle the team faces is maintaining consistency across every aspect of the game. Often, the team would come out strong in the game before slowly losing its lead. That said, they have been playing some talented teams, and as Virgidamo puts it, a well-fought loss is preferred over one where the team gave up partway through.
On Friday, January 30, at 6:00pm at Beacon High School, Haldane will compete in the annual Battle of the Tunnel, a tradition that has existed since 2020. This event was created by Haldane’s own Coach Virgidamo as a way to strengthen the already close bond between the two communities. Since the first game that took place on January 17th over 6 years ago, Haldane has gone 4-3 in this rivalry, and is hoping to win back the trophy that gets passed back and forth between the schools. Beacon High School’s basketball team is ranked second in the state in Class A, and is sure to be a difficult matchup, but Virgidamo is excited and determined to go into that game strong and wants to play the best teams around. He would love to put in a lot of effort, give them a run for their money, and hopefully get a win.
Ultimately, Virgidamo hopes to get eight wins out of the team’s 20 games so the team can qualify for sectionals, which may be a challenge, but is entirely possible. What he says is most important for the team is to “play hard and have fun.
