Schuckman: Final game together is reminder Blue Devils’ senior class to remain forever linked

NORMAL, Ill. — Reality hit Bradley Longcor III all at once as he took a seat on the Quincy High School boys basketball team’s bench.

With 19 seconds remaining in regulation Monday night in the Class 4A Normal Super-Sectional at Illinois State University’s CEFCU Arena and the Blue Devils trailing by five points, Longcor fouled Lisle Benet Academy’s Jayden Wright.

It was the fifth and final foul of a historic career, forcing Longcor to take a seat on the bench next to senior Max Wires. He covered his face with his hands as the tears fell, and Wires stood up, grabbed a towel and draped it over Longcor’s head.

Longcor let it rest there for a moment before pulling it aside and wiping his tears away with it. He then watched the final seconds tick away.

“When I fouled out, that’s when I was like, ‘This is our last time playing together,’” Longcor said. “This is it. This is the last time we will play together as a group. That’s what has all of us upset. We’ve been playing together forever and this was the last game together.”

The 58-50 loss to Benet Academy won’t be what the Blue Devils want to remember.

It will be everything but the final game and final loss.

The senior class, which started playing together in second grade as Lil’ Devils, won 30 or more games twice and 26 or more games each of its four seasons. The Class of 2025 finished with a four-year record of 116-19, three Western Big 6 Conference championships, four regional championships and two sectional titles.

The Blue Devils will be reminded of those numbers and accomplishments in the days and weeks to come, but they didn’t care about those things as they walked out of CEFCU Arena with their hoods over their heads and airpods in their ears.

“How much we’ve done together is crazy,” Longcor said. “It’s hard to believe it’s over.”

That was bound to be the case no matter when it happened.

This group of seniors — Longcor, Keshaun Thomas, Dom Clay, Kamren Wires, Mark Louthan, Rico Clay Jr., Jeraius Rice Jr. and Max Wires — has been inseparable from the start. A couple of the fathers — Bradley Longcor Jr. and Jimmy Louthan — spearheaded the effort of keeping them together, coaching them on traveling teams and playing chauffeur as much as anything else.

The moms pitched in, too, with meal prep, laundry and numerous other tasks.

Raising these boys the last 10 years truly was a family affair.

Along the way, they played basketball. Actually, they fell in love with basketball.

Four have committed to play basketball in college. Three others plan to play football in college. All will pursue a college degree. 

That’s a championship moment in its own right.

The pursuit of a title is important. It teaches drive, focus, commitment and hard work. You learn to dust yourself off when adversity hits, and you learn to lean on those closest to you in times of need. You celebrate the triumphs and embrace the challenges.

Those are life lessons the group carries with them as they go their separate ways.

It’s difficult to see that through the tears of disappointment, but the tears eventually stop falling. A new day begins, a new chapter begins and a new title pursuit begins.

“The main thing I told them was how proud I was of them, how much I appreciate them and how much I love each and every one of them,” Quincy coach Andy Douglas said. “I’m thankful God has put them in my life and all of us in each other’s lives. It’s a pretty neat group and special group.”

It’s one bonded together forever, on and off the court.