Recognizing a dynasty

Late Wednesday night I had the opportunity to watch the USA women’s hockey team defeat Canada in the gold medal match.

It was an awesome follow up to the preliminary match I’d seen the week before, yet with a uniquely different and thrilling outcome.

Following USA’s upset over Canada, many of the news updates revolved around the Americans’ retribution, but also the fall Maple Leafs, who had won gold in the prior four Olympic games.

It was an interesting shift in headlines as the Canadian women built up the sport and contended for a gold medal in every winter Olympics since 1998, when the sport was first introduced — a historic span to say the least.

When it comes to local dynasties and historic streaks, two programs come to my mind. I’m sure over the history of Imperial Valley sports there are more, but for someone who has only been covering local high school athletics going on three seasons, to me, the Brawley Union High boys’ wrestling and the Imperial High girls’ basketball programs are in a league of their own. This season, the Wildcats picked up their 18th consecutive CIF-San Diego Section Div. III title to go with six individual section champions. As I mentioned last week, I don’t know a whole lot about wrestling, but even someone like me can recognize the greatness that is the Wildcats’ wrestling program.

Similarly, the girls’ basketball team from Imperial High picked up its 11th consecutive Desert League title and wrapped up its season on Wednesday night with an overall record of 23-6 — not bad for a team that was in a “rebuilding year.”

While one could argue the Tigers have outgrown their DL opponents, it’s safe to say the team would be doing well in any league it competes in.

The Tigers have not lost to a local opponent since the 2013- 2014 season and have not suffered more than 10 losses in a year since the 2012-2013 campaign.

Imperial had arguably one of its best years on paper last season, after going a remarkable 27-2 and going as far as the CIF-SDS Div. I quarterfinals.

While the Tigers fell short of a second consecutive CIF title in 2017, their talent was not lost on anyone who saw or played against them. EDITOR’S NOTE Karina Lopez’ column will normally publish in Saturday’s edition. It was published in today’s edition to showcase a glimpse of the local topics she writes about.