Staff photo by TOM KING Hollis Brookline's Matt Simco, always hungry for a win, has his eyes on one thing, helping the Cavs to a Division II basketball title on Saturday..

DURHAM – Football won the coin flip.

But Matt Simco hopes basketball wins the title.

Simco has been a standout for Hollis Brookline High School in both sports, and it’s always a tough decision which he’d pursue full time. Football won out, as he’ll be headed to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.in the fall to play football as a wide receiver and H-back.

But as far as which sport really drives him, it’s a tossup.

“It’s a coin flip every time,” he said as the No. 1 ranked Cavaliers prepare for Saturday’s 3 p.m. Divison II championship game vs. No. 7 Oyster River at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym. “Sometimes, I’m like, I should be playing basketball, and then it’s like, ‘Oh, I should be (playing football). It

s whatever season I’m in. I won’t forget all the basketball stuff, and everything.

These two sports mean a whole lot to me.”

But for an athlete who looks constantly hungry for competition and success, Saturday will be the 6-3 senior Simco’s final organized competitive game on the hardwood, in all likelihood. That’s too bad for a heady, yet physical player who averages a double-double and who scored 21 points with 16 rebounds (the latter his specialty) in Monday’s 46-43 semifinal win over Merrimack Valley.

“I don’t want to think about that,” Simco said, “But yeah, that’s the final one.”

You look up the word “hunger” in the dictionary, and there may be a picture of Simco next to it.

“He goes after it,” Cavaliers coach Cole Etten said. “I mean, there’s no holding back when he takes the floor, even in practice. Every day our guys come and work hard, and he’s one of those guys. There’s no quit.”

Yes, Simco certainly leaves an impression – especially with the opposition.

“Funniest thing I coached him at a basketball camp a hundred years ago down in Boston, hilarious,” Oyster River coach Lorne Lucas said. “He’s been a four-year starter for them. He doesn’t get excited, doesn’t get upset. He just plays. He’s tough.”

Make no mistake, Simco sets the tone for the Cavaliers, with his quick, aggressive style and leadership on and off the court. He carries a lot of their pulse.

“You know, every group needs somebody that they can look up to,” he said. “I just want to try to set a good example, not only vocally, but also physically as well. Doing the right things at practice and the games, just to make sure we all follow suit.”

It’s possible the Cavs leaned on Simco even more, with a new coach coming on board in Etten. And Etten, who coached against Simco while at Bishop Brady, knew what he had in the senior.

“He’s a terrific leader on the team,” Etten said. “That’s one of his greatest strengths. Whatever sport he’s playing, he goes out and works hard. I was able to watch him a little bit in the football season and he’s a tremendous athlete. And in basketball season, he’s come every day in practice hungry and ready for more.”

Giving up the idea of coaching Simco was tough for former Cavs coach Mike Soucy who resigned in early September to take the Merrimack athletic director’s job. But he loves watching his former player and can’t say enough good things about him.

“Oh God, I wish I had three years to tell you,” Soucy said. “He’s just an unbelievable kid, takes everything in stride. Nothing ever bothers him. And he’s a worker. … He puts the same effort into everything that he does. Academics, social life, basketball, football. It’s just who he is. Unbelieveable kid.”

When Soucy was the coach, he looked at Simco as the heart and soul of the Cavs, and that is true today. “This team has personality,” he said the other night, “and it stems from him.”

Those are intangibles. On the floor, one of Simco’s best attributes is he crashes the boards.

“I can rebound the best, that’s what I like,” Simco said. “I like competing, you know?”

Where does he get the hunger?

“The desire not to lose,” Simco said. “I really don’t want to lose, that’s the only thing I really care about. As long as we’re winning as a team, competing, and I’m giving everything I have, I want everyone else to give everything they have.”

Simco, a vaunted reciver for the Cavs, had an idea football would be the sport he’d play in college.

“There was a possibility, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do,” he said. “Once all the cards fell, I was able to figure it out. I’m really happy with my decision.”

The thing he likes most about being a receiver? That should be obvious.

“Catching touchdowns,” he said with a huge grin. “That’s too positions in offense, catcher and runner, that’s all you need.”

A good student, Simco isn’t exactly going to be taking basketweaving at Wesleyan. He says it will be between economics, physics and computer science. Etten loves the fact he’s a good student and says that translates to the court. “He reads the floor very well,” he said. “He’s a smart player. Not only does he work hard, but he’s smart about what he does out there on the court.

But right now, he’s taking the physics and science of the gridiron and applying it to the hardwood.

“Football’s definitely a more physical sport,” he said. “You have to have the mentality ‘I’m better than the guy across from me.’

“That’s the same mentality you have to have in basketball – I’m better than the person that’s guarding me and I’m going to get to the hoop and score.”

If he does that on Saturday, you have to like the Cavs’ chances.

“Just going to have to compete,” Simco said, “and make sure we go out with a bang.”

You can’t imagine Matt Simco playing it any other way.