Coming off an exciting overtime victory on Feb. 20, the Foothill boys’ basketball team embodied the montra: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” in their semifinal road game on Feb. 24. With back-and-forth play, the game went into overtime, where Jack Vielbig ‘19 sealed the deal for the Dragons.

“When the game was coming down to the wire, Vielbig hit five threes in a row to give us the [81-75] victory” over Southlands Christian, Nate Bova ‘19 said.

In the first half, the Dragons struggled to adjust to their environment, according to Colin Vallance ‘18.

“It was a very difficult place to play with the extremely loud fans and small court,” so “we came out a bit slow and gave up lots of o-boards,” he said.

The team “held a lead of one or two points but for the most part it was a game with a lot of lead changes,” Trey Jackson ‘18 said, but the Dragons “played really well as a unit, […] executed our plays and had our spirits higher than the other team,” which all came together to form their victory.

“Our passion for the game really showed throughout the second half and overtime,” Jackson said.

With just a few minutes left in regulation, the Dragons trailed by six, but were able to come back with the help of Vielbig’s threes.

His hot hand helped the team in overtime as well, and with their win, they head to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 5AA championship against Nogales High School on March 2.

Bova is “not nervous at all,” considering the fact that “we’ve had a great and successful season.”

“We’re super excited because we’ve never had an opportunity like this, so we’re hoping to capitalize on that,” he said.