It was the perfect the school year for the Orchard Lake St. Mary's Eaglets athletic program in 2000.

In the fall, they won a state title in football.

Then, come March, they took home another state crown in basketball.

The 2000 Eaglets hoop squad, the core of which also starred on the gridiron for head coach George Porritt, finished the campaign with a flawless 28-0 record.

In the Class B state finals, OLSM topped Flint Beecher 62-59. Leading 35-28 at halftime, the Eaglets grabbed a 51-41 advantage heading into the fourth quarter and staved off a furious last-second Beecher rally to claim the victory. Porritt's courageous cagers shot the ball about as well as humanly possible that fateful night up in East Lansing a dozen years ago, connecting on 50 percent of their shots from the field and 80 percent of their bombs from 3-pointland.

Senior point guard Maurice Seawright, one of the best two-sport athletes Oakland County has ever seen, sparked the Eaglets in the stat sheet with an immaculate performance of 25 points, six dimes, nine rebounds and two steals.  The previous autumn, Seawright was an electrifying presence on the football field as a big-play split end and return specialist.

Jonte Jones, Seawright's running mate on the hardwood, tallied 17 points in the state championship game. Controlling action in the post for St. Mary's was Charles Davis, another two-sport standout for the Eaglets, who brought down a game-high 14 boards. Jermaine Gonzales, a starting forward and the quarterback on the football team, put up nine points and Grant Mason, the team's defensive specialist and a future NFL'er with the Steelers, Saints and Chargers, sank 2 of 2 from the field for four points.

Gonzales and Mason both played football in college at Michigan. Davis also played football in the Big 10 at Purdue, while Seawright had a short-lived hoops career at Michigan before flaming out due to off-the-court issues.