(The feature below is sponsored by CB South boys’ basketball)
The night was destined to be emotional.
For years, Central Bucks South’s gym was a second home to both Jason Campbell and his son Colson. On Monday night, the father and son were back in the familiar gym, but this time under decidedly different circumstances.
For the first time – and undoubtedly not the last – Jason, the head coach at CB South, found himself coaching against his son, Upper Moreland’s sixth man.
“It’s definitely mixed emotions,” Jason said. “Especially because he’s been around this gym since he was in diapers, watching games, coming here for camps.
“So he’s had a lot of moments on this floor with our camps. He knows this gym extremely well. For me to now have him on this floor and he’s my opponent – that was different, but at the same time, it was a good feeling.”
The father and son shared a special moment before the game began.
As Colson walked off the court in front of the home team’s bench after pregame warm-ups, he allowed himself a smile as he accepted a brief hug from his father. It’s not the kind of thing that that typically happens before games to the UM freshman, but then again, he’s never walked into a gym he’s grown up in to play against his father’s team, a team he supported for as long as he can remember.
“It was weird playing against my dad because he’s coached me for all these years,” Colson said. “I’ve been playing for him since I was four or five years old. I came to practices when I was little. I went to camp here until last year.
“I’m used to being up in the bleachers behind the bench watching the games.”
Any allegiance Colson may have had to South in the past was gone on Monday night. The Titans needed to rally from behind to eke out a 43-41 win with Joe Rooney connecting on a 3-pointer for the game-winner with 4.1 seconds remaining.
“They won it on a shot that went in and out,” Colson said. “It was a tough shot.”
Jason acknowledged that it’s never a win-win going against his son.
“He’s going to go home disappointed with the loss, or if I would have gone home with the loss, I would have been disappointed for sure,” the Titans’ coach said. “No one is really winning. You’re winning in the way that we’re on the court at the same time.
“It’s a great opportunity for our families to witness both of us. It’s an extra game I get to see him in person, but it’s much harder now that I have to coach against him and his teammates.
“I’ve seen all their games in some fashion, either in person or on film. They’re my second team, this group of guys, and you want to see them do well. Now I have to coach against them. It was tough. I knew it was going to be a competitive game because Upper Moreland has played well all season.”
Colson didn’t get his name in the scoring column with one of his two 3-point attempts in the second half going in and then popping out, but he was a force on defense, unofficially recording four steals.
“I just try to complement the starters and do whatever I can – play good defense, get offensive rebounds so we can get the ball back in our hands,” Colson said.
“He’s a very good defender,” Jason said. “I wrote on their scouting report – he’s their best defender. He’s also a kid that can put the ball in the basket. When that starts happening more often, look out. He’s tough.”
Monday’s game, according to Colson, was not an ongoing topic of conversation in the Campbell household.
“We talked about how it was going to be fun,” he said. “I was definitely looking forward to it.
“I’ve always wanted to play against my dad. He’s coached me, and I wanted to see what it would be like to play against him. There was some pressure, but once I got on the court it went away. It was fun.”
During a timeout before UM’s final inbounds – which resulted in a desperation heave, the South student section voiced their preference when it came to the game’s closing seconds, chanting “We want Colson.”
“I was trying to block it out,” Colson said with a laugh. “We hustled. They’re a good team, they’re the type of teams we’re going to see in the playoffs, so if we keep playing this hard, we can go far.”
Colson wouldn’t mind having his chance to take that final shot “in a couple of years,’ although his father did think of the possibility of that happening on Monday.
“That was playing in my head before the game,” Jason said. “I did my best to focus on the task at hand, which is coaching my team, and the fact that it was such a close game – my head was in coaching my guys.
“Colson was just another player out there until he shot the ball, and it was three quarters of the way down, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, my own kid is going to beat me.’”
It didn’t happen, but there’s always next year.
“There’s so much pride I have in my son playing high school basketball,” Jason said. “Now the moment’s here. He’s a ninth grader playing varsity basketball and being a very good contributor to the team. I’m super proud of all he’s accomplished so far and how bright his future is going to continue to be.”
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