SALEM, N.H. — "Every night I go to bed, I think about that pass. Honestly, I'd have to say I've watched it over 100 times."
And every time Salem High's Matt Cannone views it, his perfect spiral is somehow pulled in by Mike Lorenz in the end zone for the Division 1 football championship.
"It gets better every time," laughed Cannone, after helping the Blue Devils capture their fifth straight win on the hardwood, working a pair of overtimes to subdue Alvirne, 75-72.
Barely three months since Cannone's epic hookup with Lorenz sunk Nashua North in the state title game, the duo is again riding the crest of a Blue Devil winning wave.
Each is a junior starter for Salem, which has quietly crept up to 6-5 in Class L, winning six of seven after an 0-4 start.
Like the team with a rocky start, both Cannone and Lorenz had to overcome the violent crash from such a mighty grid high.
"Definitely!" admitted Cannone, who like Lorenz and three other Salem football/hoopsters (Jared and Jake Matthews, Kyle Henrick), had just days to trade in the cleats for Nike high-tops.
"Based on football, that was the best thing that's happened so far in my life, the best feeling I've ever had. I think it took us all a little bit."
Added Lorenz: "It was tough to switch. I mean, I like football a lot, but as an athlete you have to think of the next thing."
Cannone played a huge role last night in the win, logging over 30 minutes with 10 points, seven assists and five steals. Lorenz, who at 6-foot-3 always seems to find himself in a physical duel on the block, added five points, including a crucial lay-in from Alex LaRosa inside the final minute of the second overtime.
"They've really stepped up, I mean they came from places last year where they weren't really playing much," said coach E.J. Perry. "Cannone was playing like two minutes a game. Lorenz was JV the whole year. It took them the early part of the season for them to learn how to play basketball, not that they're experts, but they really are coming along.
"Cannone's hit big shots all year, and Lorenz can be unbelievable underneath if he learns to finish and go up stronger. He's probably our best athlete on the team."
Clearly both took giant strides forward, and that's without the benefit of countless summer league games and AAU tournaments.
They are multi-sport competitors. But Lorenz, making that miracle — I can't believe nobody posted it on YouTube — catch has springboarded off the experience in his rise from JV player to varsity starter.
"I think football has always been my dominant sport, and I played basketball to stay active," he said, noting that he hasn't watched the video much but does have Eagle-Tribune photographer Jan Seeger's classic still photo of the catch as his computer screensaver. "That confidence has helped me with every part of my game here."
Walking the halls at Salem, both are still pretty much the same as they were before the title tumult.
"I get noticed a little more, but I just try to shake that off," said Cannone.
Still, that experience, that elation, that never-quit air of invincibility oozes out on court, especially in the nail-biters like last night.
Next month, when the state playoffs roll around, you have to figure Perry has a handful of bricks on which he can lean, starting with Cannone and Lorenz.
"I like the five football guys, they bring a certain moxie, a certain toughness," said Perry. "That's why I kept them."
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