Oakland Elementary teachers and a few sheriff’s deputies suffered a hard loss at the hand of Oakland’s fifth-graders during their March Madness basketball game Friday afternoon.

The entire school was in attendance to watch the five fifth-grade teams beat the adults 130-40.

“We have a lot of fun, but we always end up losing,” said retired teacher’s assistant Judy Dempsey. Dempsey came back to Oakland to coach the teacher’s team.

Not only was the basketball game a fun way to end the week before spring break, but it was a way to congratulate the fifth-grade students who were performing well academically.

To participate, students had to maintain a C average for the third nine weeks, maintain good behavior and have no referrals. From all the students, they were able to have more than 40 students participate. They made five teams of five students, and the remainder chose to be cheerleaders for the event.

“This encourages the students to become a student-athlete with an emphasis on the student part,” said Ann McCoy, Oakland’s physical education teacher. “It’s exciting because it highlights the students who can keep a C or higher with good citizenship.”

Other students had the opportunity to participate in the festivities. The kindergarten students got to play different games after every period, and the second-grade students got to help pad the score before the last period. McCoy brought out two extra hoops and let the audience know that any ball that went in would count as a point for the fifth-grade team.

“It consists of a little cheating, but it really is all in good fun,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Sandy Toby.

While the students racked up more than 100 additional points, the teacher’s team did nothing more than laugh before trying to block all the shots they could.

The final team to take the court with the teachers consisted of the championship team from earlier in the day. The team of five had beat every other fifth-grade team for the chance to have the most play time during the March Madness final game.

The Sheriff’s Department was happy to participate in the event. It’s a way for the kids to see them in a different way rather than law enforcement, according to Sheriff E.C. Harris.