What is the common factor among butane, propane and Fontaine? They all fuel fire.
At 9-2, the red-hot Newburyport boys basketball team has started the season on fire, and the Fontaine brothers, Brett and Colton, are as big a reason as any.
Standing at 6-foot-1 (Brett) and 6-feet even (Colton), the pair are a little undersized for the big game they bring to the court. Athletic swing-men with a high-motor style of game, the brothers have put up tremendous all-around numbers to start the year with Brett averaging 16.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.8 steals per game alongside his brother Colton's averages of 9.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.3 steals per game.
But even more telling than statistics is what the pair brings to the table in championship pedigree. Last spring, the two three-sport stars in football, baseball and basketball helped the baseball team win its first-ever state championship. This past fall the brothers' encore was a record-setting offense that helped the football team capture the Division 2 Cape Ann League championship.
"That really speaks to our entire team, and those two guys are right at the top of the list," said Newburyport coach Tom L'Italien about the athletic gifts the Fontaine brothers possess. "They've had success at all three sports, and competing and being a part of the team is important to them.
"I think it's a good lesson to a lot of kids, the value of playing three sports. It doesn't matter what the sport or what the season, (Brett and Colton) like to compete and I think it really sends a message to other athletes that are thinking about specializing in one or two sports. You only have one opportunity for four years of your life to play three sports."
Outstanding rebounders, superbly conditioned athletes and good overall players, said L'Italien, the Fontaines have tried to take advantage of their athleticism in space on the court in the same way they were isolated in space on the football field as wide receivers.
"The two of them play well in space, very similar to how they play in football," L'Italien said. "Watching their hands and how they cut on the football field, they get open similar to what we're trying to do with basketball with those two and a few other of our players. We just want to get them in space."
And besides the obvious performance on the court, L'Italien has enjoyed watching the maturation process with how Brett has grown over four years into a senior captain this year.
"I'm really proud of Brett as a person," L'Italien said. "There's a funny story I tell, when Brett was on the eighth-grade travel team he couldn't even look me in the eye. Going into his freshman year at our summer camp, he really started to grow as a person. I could see it and where he is now with his communication skills, his leadership skills. He practices hard, he's pushing his teammates in a positive way. One thing I said to him at the beginning of the year is, 'I want to help develop your leadership skills,' and he's just done a great job of it."
"It's the fun part of coaching, seeing him as an eighth- or ninth-grader, then seeing where he is as a senior. I really couldn't be any more proud of him as a person. It's been really nice to watch him evolve."
When L'Italien thinks of intensity and toughness, Colton comes to mind. For example, he showed up late to a practice earlier this year, because he was at the dentist getting a root canal, and then proceeded to still practice afterward, said L'Italien.
After battling a strained quad and some sickness, the junior forward is finally rounding into form, and it's paying big dividends for his team, including in the team's second one-point win of the season in the Clippers' most recent game versus Stoneham.
"The Stoneham game was big," Colton said. "We got off to a bad start, which we've kind of been doing pretty frequently this year, but we had just lost to Manchester Essex. We knew that Stoneham would be a good team, so to come back in the fourth quarter was a good sign."
The Clippers have had a proud basketball tradition, including having won a state title 12 years ago. But in recent years, other programs like the hockey team (back-to-back trips to the Garden in 2009 and 2010) overshadowed the basketball team's exploits. Over the past eight seasons, the basketball team has not won more than one game in the state tournament until last year's somewhat surprising trip to the Division 3 North final.
Safe to say, it appears as if that tradition has been restored with the Fontaine brothers as the face of this year's team, leading the CAL Division 2 standings.
"Our goal is not to be good, we want to be great, and with that comes consistency and living up to your own expectations," L'Italien said. "One thing we've eliminated from our vocabulary is that we're surprising people. When you surprise people, you're living up to what other people think of you. What we want to do is live up to our own expectations and it's worked so far. We know we've got a very difficult second half; we're just trying to have a great practice each day and treat every game like it's a one-game season."
Brett Fontaine, who pitched the state championship game victory for the Newburyport baseball team last spring, is no longer surprised by winning.
"Coming into the season, saying we started off 9-2, that's something we probably didn't expect. So I feel like that's a great way to start off the season, but we're definitely not a surprise," Brett stated. "A lot of people know we're good, we knew we were a good team coming in.
"Basketball at Newburyport flies under the radar the past couple of years," Brett said. "We've brought it back and to let people know what a good program we have here at Newburyport is a great feeling."
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