‘It’s a new era’: Ribault unseats Jackson for Gateway Conference title in OT thriller

Head coach Charles Showers couldn’t hold back his emotions. The long embraces with his players, his coaching staff, their fans and supporters had gotten to him.

Moments after his program dethroned a traditional powerhouse for the Gateway Conference title he tried to talk through his thoughts. But the raw emotions just came spilling out.

“It’s just been a long time coming. Everybody has been counting us out for the longest. We finally got it together,” he said with tears of joy welling up in his eyes. Ribault (18-4) defeated Jackson (13-11) on Friday night in a 60-55 overtime contest that was back-and-forth the entire duration.

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“The mission was to put Ribault back on the map. That’s what we did,” he continued. “Jackson has won it like the last four or five times, it’s just a new era. We’re back and the emotions are just out of control right now because the kids just played their butts off."

A few minutes earlier, Showers was stone faced on the sidelines as the Trojans saw their best player — Caleb Williams — foul out in the early stages of overtime.

But his team withstood the Tigers’ best punches late and were able to hoist the Gateway Conference championship trophy at mid-court of their home gym.

“It’s great because they could’ve easily laid down when they got down six or seven points,” Showers said of his players. “But they’re a bunch of great kids that’ve been with me for three years. We’ve been in games like this before.”

Williams scored 11 points in the game before fouling out of the contest. When he went to the bench, there wasn’t any panic from the Trojans.

Instead, they forced the Tigers to send them to the foul line and knocked down 6-of-6 free throws in the extra period to lock up the championship.

“I was frustrated but I had confidence in my teammates,” Williams said after the game. Four Trojans scored in double-figures with George Woods’ 13 points, Jeremiah White’s 11, and Kevin Stokes’ 10 to go along with the 11 from Williams. “I was just supporting them off the court and being there for them if they needed anything.”

This is the third time these two programs have played this season. The first matchup saw the Trojans squeeze by in a low-scoring affair. Jackson claimed the second victory in another close game in late December.

But the rubber match goes to Ribault, who have claimed the title of best public school boys basketball program in Jacksonville.

“It’s a big step because we wanted to win for the school, but we also wanted to win for ourselves,” Williams said. “You know, these past few years it has been Jackson this, Jackson that, now, we’re the new face coming up in the state.”

The Trojans will close out the season with two games next week before venturing into the postseason. There’s still work to be done according to Showers.

“We’ve got to keep working hard and not get complacent. Because regardless of what your record is at Ribault, they’re gonna come after you,” he said.

Juston Lewis is a sports reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @JustonLewis_.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Ribault Trojans win Gateway Conference boys basketball championship