“Game time is 6:00, be there to defend the crown.”

The FHN faculty basketball team isn’t exactly what one would call a rigorously trained athletic program. With the third annual ‘Clash of the Howells’ or ‘Clash of the Teachers’ taking place tonight at North, the most preparation deemed necessary for the tournament games against the Francis Howell and Howell Central staffs was a one sentence email from Head football coach John Brune.

“There’s so many coaches and parents [on the team],” Brune said. “So it is not a very convenient

thing for us to practice, we just come out and have fun.”

Practice or not, the team has been successful in the tournament in the past. In the first two years of the tournament, North’s team has gone 4-0, beating both Howell and Central twice. This year’s tournament will be hosted at North for the first time, where the FHN faculty will attempt to defend their crown for the third year running.

“We have the whole package,” Biology teacher Larry Scheller said. “We have shooters on the outside and guards.”

The team’s success has not just been limited to the teacher games. For the past six years that DECA has sponsored their annual jump-off, the faculty team has won every single senior-teacher match. Currently the team is undefeated with a combined 10-0 record.

“That streak’s not going to end anytime soon,” senior Zach Short said. “They’re really talented. Unless Howell recruited and got LeBron there’s no way [North’s] gonna lose.”

According to Brune, one of the keys to the team’s success has been the strong play from Scheller at guard. His play in the faculty and senior-teacher games has earned him the nickname ‘Larry the Legend’.

“Mr. Scheller has been Mr. Consistent on the team,” Brune said. “That’s why they call him ‘the Legend’. He’s deadly from outside the arc.”

Scheller, along with several other teachers from the Howell and Central staffs, are former high school and college athletes, making for highly contested games each time the teams meet on the court.

“You’re talking about a bunch of coaches,” Brune said. “Doesn’t get much more competitive [than that.] It doesn’t matter if I’m playing tiddlywinks, I wanna win.”

This year’s game will be sponsored by the All-Knighter. Tickets will go on sale for $3 before the game, and the money will go towards the class of 2010’s Senior Night. Both the team and the All-Knighter hope to see more support from the student-body, as there has not been hardly any at the past two year’s tournaments according to Scheller.

“The last two times our team has played, they haven’t had the support they should have,” Scheller said. “We definitely need to see more students out there [tonight].”

Editors Note: The game has been rescheduled, check back to see when the game will take place.