ICC SPORTS UPDATE

How rare is it to have a team, in any league sport, to go an entire season undefeated and finish winning the league championship?

In the NFL (football), the 2007 New England Patriots finished the regular season undefeated 16-0, yet ended the entire season, including the playoffs, at 18-1. That one loss was Super Bowl XLII where they fell short to the New York Giants 17-14 who unexpectedly put an end to their ‘perfect’ season in the final minutes of the Super Bowl.

The only NFL team to go undefeated the entire regular season, including the playoffs and the Super Bowl, was 53 years ago when the 1972 Miami Dolphins finished 17-0 and won Super Bowl VII over the Washington Redskins – they have remained the only NFL team to complete an entire season undefeated.

Due to the sheer number of games played, it is nearly impossible for an NBA (basketball) or MLB (baseball) team to go undefeated, although some teams need credit for the longest winning-steak in their league’s history:

• The 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers hold the longest winning streak in NBA history at 33 games, led by Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich.
• The Cleveland Guardians went on a 22-game winning streak from August 24 to September 14, 2017, and was “the longest win streak in AL history and tied with the 1935 [Chicago] Cubs for the longest AL/NL win streak that wasn’t interrupted by a tie,” according to an article in MLB.com

College sports is in a completely different category but since we will be talking about our local ICC Adult Volleyball league, it is worth pointing out that out of all the hundreds of colleges and universities who compete in NCAA women’s volleyball, in the past 44 years only four teams ended their season undefeated (Penn State did it twice, back-to-back):

2009 Penn State (38-0), 2008 Penn State (38-0), 2003 USC (35-0), 2000 Nebraska (34-0), and 1998 Long Beach State (36-0.)

Why are we talking about winning streaks and undefeated seasons?

Because last week, as the playoffs came to an end in two of our local sports (ICC Adult Volleyball and ICC Adult Basketball), two of our local teams has just accomplished the near-impossible.

[ This article “The Year of the Undefeated” is written in a two-part series. The second part will come out in next week’s edition of the Town Crier. ]

The Year of the Undefeated: Part 1

ICC Adult Volleyball

It was a busy week last week at the Peace Center gymnasium of Buckhorn Camp, as we saw the end of the regular season (a race to the playoffs) Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday; the two quarterfinals matches on Friday; and the final playoffs tournament all day Saturday.

Out of the seven teams, the top six teams qualify to enter the playoffs tournament while the #1 seed and #2 seed got the first-round bye and a ticket straight into the semi-finals.

The top five teams were more or less set prior to the week’s beginning, however the sixth and final playoffs spot was going to be a battle between Adams Electric and Pino Tree Services, the league’s two newest teams.

After having to unfortunately forfeit their last two games, Adams Electric gave way to Pino Tree Services to make it into their first ever playoff appearance.

6 seed Pino Tree Services (with a 2-10 record) would take on Idyllwild Garage (7-5) who barely edged out BBI Construction (7-5) in the total-points tiebreaker for #3 seed.

4 seed BBI Construction (7-5) were to face #5 seed Red Kettle (4-8) in Friday’s quarterfinals match.

This year’s playoffs had a lot of close games and tight competition. Both Idyllwild Garage and BBI Construction were victorious in their quarterfinal matches and would enter Saturday’s final playoffs tournament with #1 seed Village Hardware (12-0) and #2 seed Idyllwild Brewpub (8-4).

In last year’s semi-finals match, BBI Construction surprisingly toppled Village Hardware (2022-2023 season champions) and went on to win the championship. Would this be a repeat of last year’s semi-finals match?

“Not a chance,” says Village Hardware as they went on to defeat the 2023-2024 champions BBI Construction, and head to the final championship match. One more win for the gold.

The #2 seed Idyllwild Brewpub had a great regular season (8-4) and were ready for battle against #3 seed Idyllwild Garage (7-5) who entered the tournament with momentum and high hopes. Just two days prior, in the last game of the regular season, Idyllwild Garage defeated Idyllwild Brewpub in a tight match to secure the #3 seed.

Can they do it again? This time to earn their spot in the final championship match?

When the dust settled, the momentum and high hopes of Idyllwild Garage came to an end, as the final score was in favor of Idyllwild Brewpub – they would go on to try and defeat the undefeated Village Hardware in the final championship match.

Will the Idyllwild Brewpub be like the 2007 New York Giants and vanquish over the undefeated New England Patriots (in this case, the 2024-2025 Village Hardware) in the final match of the playoffs?

Village Hardware had a tremendous start of the season – they started off strong, went full throttle all season long, and did not let off the gas in the playoffs, nor in the championship match. With their powerful hitting and bombardment of spikes led by Coach Lance Fogle and family, they swiftly defeated Idyllwild Brewpub in three games to win the match.

Village Hardware would go on to join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as one of the rare teams to never lose a game all season long, including the playoffs and the final championship game.

Congratulations to Village Hardware who end the season with a 14-0 record and are the 2024-2025 ICC Adult Volleyball champions!

ICC ADULT VOLLEYBALL 2024-2025 FINAL STANDINGS:

1st Place: Village Hardware

2nd Place: Idyllwild Brewpub

3rd Place: BBI Construction

(4th Place: Idyllwild Garage)

Tune in for Part 2 of the “The Year of the Undefeated” as we will see who made local basketball history, as the six teams also ended their 2025 season last week with a few unexpected twists at the end.

ICC Youth Baseball

Registration is open for Tee-Ball (ages 4-6), minor league (7-9), and major league (10-14) baseball. Season runs April 8^(th) – June 5^(th). For more info and to register, go to www.idyllwildcommunitycenter.org or call 951-659-2638.