This year the Coal Bowl Classic is extremely proud to honor the 1955 Central High School Boys Basketball Team. The Bob MacDonald coached squad had a terrific year by capturing the New Waterford High School Title, the Cape Breton Title, the Eastern Nova Scotia Championship and finally the Nova Scotia Intermediate Class "B" Title.

The 1955 season was an intense one, on the local high school scene, St. Agnes. Mount Carmel and Central all had quality teams as evident by the closeness of the majority of the games that season. As the regular season drew to a close, Mount Carmel held down top spot with six wins and two losses, follow- ed by Central with five wins and three losses and St. Agnes with one win and seven losses. So Central and St. Agnes squared off in a two game, total point semi-final series with the winner taking on Mount Carmel in the league final. In game one Central got 12 points from Russell Wilson en route to a 48-18 victory. In game two Lorne Fisher had 14 points to pace the blue and gold to a 58-30 victory and taking the series by a total of 106-48.

The stage was then set for the town final between Central and Mount Carmel. The series promised to be a good one and it disappointed no one. Game one was an intense battle, however, Central was able to knock off the regular season champs 54-43. In game two, try as they might, Mount Carmel could not hold off the vaunted Central attack as the blue and gold defeated the Mount Carmel squad 53-47 to take the series and claim the New Waterford Interscholastic basketball title.

This meant a matchup against Sydney Academy in the Cape Breton semi-finals. However, the boys from Sydney proved no match for the powerful Central team as Karl Marsh led the way with 20 points on the way to a 59-23 victory. Now the Central team would face MacDonald High from Dominion in the Cape Breton Championship, a two game, total point affair. In game one, thanks largely to Central's Mike Roberts' 34 points, Central crushed MacDonald High 90-53. Game two was a little closer, however, Central defeated MacDonald 57-35 to capture the Cape Breton title.

Central would travel to Antigonish to meet Morrison in the Eastern Nova Scotia basketball playoffs. The Central squad had little trouble against the Antigonish team as they won by scores of 45-33 and 55-30, which then put them into the Nova Scotia finals against the defending champions from Liverpool High, with the two game, total point series to be played in Bridgewater.

Game one of the series was a close one but Central wouldn't be denied, as they got 18 points from Russell Wilson and 16 points from Mike Roberts to claim a 48-35 victory. Central now had a 12 point cushion going into game two, but they didn't need to worry as they took game two by a final score of 46-35 to capture their 2nd Nova Scotia Intermediate Class "B" Title in three years.

Now aside from all the basketball they played in New Water- ford, the Central team also competed in the Sydney City League. This league boasted such teams as St. Andrews, Xavier Junior College, "Y" Juniors and "Y" Seniors and Community House. Central did themselves proud in this league as they had victories of 35-32 over St. Andrews, 48-17 over Community House, 45-22 over "Y" Juniors and 41-30 over Xavier Junior College.

Despite all those impressive victories, it was the Nova Scotia Title which gave the most joy to the Central team. Coach Bob MacDonald had this to say about winning the title in 1955, "We were relieved actually, we were confident as well, we knew we had a strong team but at the same time we knew Liverpool had quite a good team as well. I think we has a really well balanced team and our experience was also a big factor, Karl Marsh and Mike Roberts had played at that level before so it was a big help to our team".

So there you have it, the season that was in 1955. The Coal Bowl Classic is delighted to be able to pass on special recognition to the Central High Boys Basketball Team, Nova Scotia Intermediate Class "B" Champions for 1955.