The Forest Lake Christian boys basketball team had taken on all comers all season long. On Tuesday night in the CIF Northern California playoffs, David finally met a true Goliath.

Forest Lake Christian’s magical run came to an end, but it took a superb effort from Woodside Priory’s 7-foot-2 senior Greg Somogyi to do it. The Panthers used a lockdown defense and 33 points from their enormous star to beat the Falcons 75-47 and advance to the NorCal semifinals.

The Falcons, who end the season 22-10, made things very interesting in the first quarter. Josh Ritchart’s outside shooting helped the home team stay close as they trailed 20-18 after one quarter.

Forest Lake sophomore Josh Ritchart was the tallest opponent Somoygi has seen this season. Ritchart and his brother Andrew Ritchart both finished with 17, but the Falcons couldn’t recover from Woodside’s second-quarter push.

Forest Lake will greatly miss seniors Sparling, Andrew Ritchart and Austin Maynard after they delivered the school’s first Sac-Joaquin Section championship last Friday. They also led the Falcons to the school’s first Central Valley Christian League title. “Our goal for the season was to win sections — this was a one-of-a kind season for Forest Lake,” Sparling said. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. It was our dream season and it actually came true.”

Photograph by Michael Kirby/Auburn Journal