A Hurricane force of optimism and community spirit has swept through Wilmington with the boys basketball team’s history-making run to the Final Four.

Sports are unique that way. They bring people of all ages and from all walks of life that may have little in common together for a moment in time. A time when young student-athletes are celebrated and citizens join together and unite in enjoying the team’s success and its hustling, always-give-100-percent style of play.

With every win and every tournament round advanced, the community swells with more pride in their team, their community, and simply knowing that the name “Wilmington” is talked about more and more admirably around the state.

With every victory, more memories are made that will last a lifetime, and the kids and the community will still be talking about this season even when the current players are grandparents.

And state championship or not, to quote Coach Dale in “Hoosiers”: “If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don’t care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we’re gonna be winners.”

The collective unit of players, coaches, trainers, cheerleaders, band, and parents and siblings all comprise one winning unit, of which the community can be proud for generations.