{"id":34144,"date":"2026-04-08T14:52:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/?p=34144"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:58:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:58:55","slug":"knights-celebrate-national-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/04\/08\/knights-celebrate-national-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights Celebrate National Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (April 8, 2026) \u2014 Hundreds of fans, former players, family members and Northern Essex Community College staff packed the gym on Wednesday night to celebrate the men&#8217;s basketball team. They became the first team in school history to capture a national title when they won the \u00a0NJCAA DIII National Championship last month. <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/25A5201.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-29953 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/25A5201-710x1024.jpg\" alt=\"coach stratton stands at podium with trophy sitting on low table to his left\" width=\"250\" height=\"361\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>State Senator Pavel Payano (D-First Essex District) served as emcee for the celebration, which included speeches from NECC President Lane Glenn, two former NECC Knights, current player and co-captain Cristian Moscat and NJCAA Coach of the Year Darren Stratton. All reflected on the journey to get to that moment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With the national championship, it wasn&#8217;t just about the time we put into the team. It was about how we built together,&#8221; commented Moscat. &#8220;The NECC Knights, that&#8217;s family for life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It didn&#8217;t start with you guys in the front row,&#8221; said Coach Stratton, referring to the current players. &#8220;This is years of building and cooperation from college leadership and support of the Academic Coaches and a community that believed in us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Each player received a specially-framed jersey and got to see a preview of the design for their championship rings. The event culminated with the unveiling of the championship banner.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/25A5210.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-29954 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/25A5210-1024x1009.jpg\" alt=\"championship banner shows a team picture with words &quot;national champions&quot; across the middle\" width=\"500\" height=\"492\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Check out the Knight&#8217;s Road to the National Championship below, in this video produced by Coach Stratton&#8217;s son, Talan Stratton:<\/p>\n<div class='avia-iframe-wrap'><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Road to the National Championship\" width=\"1500\" height=\"844\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LiQyzjRtx0E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (April 8, 2026) \u2014 Hundreds of fans, former players, family members and Northern Essex Community College staff packed the gym on Wednesday night to celebrate the men&#8217;s basketball [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":34145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,16,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-press-releases","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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