I spent the first twelve years in Catholic schools in two different states and three different buildings. Those years were a unique experience. With small population and classroom size, nobody gets lost in the crowd. I learned values in those buildings. There was a discipline you had to have wearing a uniform everyday, taking religion as a subject, and frequently attending mass. I often joke between Catholic school and culinary school I wore uniforms to school until I was 20. The truth is with these positives aspects comes some negatives. Catholic schools depend on enrollment tuition, and donations to stay afloat. Some schools have continued to thrive in this area and others struggled. Whether it’s the hefty price tag, the lack of educational services, or the public not valuing a religious education, these schools are constantly under the cloud of closing their doors for good. Having successful athletic programs does not make a school immune to this fate. In 2017, St. Anthony’s in New Jersey closed. This was a school that had a legendary basketball program. St. Anthony’s Coach Bob Hurley Sr. won 28 state championships, helped players get division 1 scholarships, and even had a New York Times best seller written about them (Miracle of St. Anthony’s). All these accomplishments and they still could not quell the financial burdens that forced the school closure.
Trinity Catholic High School in Stamford, CT has joined the rank. The last several years the looming prospect of Trinity closing for good has become a reality. Citing low enrollment Trinity Catholic high school, which opened its doors in 1957, will be closing them for good in the fall. What made this story so intriguing was 2020 Trinity Catholic Crusaders basketball team would be playing its final FCIAC game vs. defending champion Ridgefield Tigers for the FCIAC Championship. Trinity dominated the league in the 2000’s, winning 5 League titles and appearing in 11 state championship games (winning 6 of them in a 20 year span). Now Ridgefield, who has won the 2 conference championships in 3 years, is looking to win back to back conference championships. Ridgefield is led by FCIAC player of the year Luke McGarrity, senior John Briody, and Chris Knachel. Trinity has been relying on the trio of Malik Newman, Akim Joseph, and All-FCIAC first team selection Rahsen Fisher as they made their run to the conference final. Both teams finished 1 and 2 in the West division with Ridgefield’s only FCIAC loss coming at the hands of the Crusaders earlier in the year.
Wilton High School, the site of the championship game, was a buzz pregame. Getting to the game early, as I usually do, you could really sense the anticipation of a this matchup. Wilton High School was an excellent venue for a big game atmosphere. Stands on either side of the court and underneath both baskets gave the feel as a fan that you are on-top-of-the action- feel. Ridgefield came out for warm ups first in their black warm up tops and tiger striped warm up pants. Doing my due diligence before the game, I got some intel about both teams from the head coach at Norwalk High School whose team played against both combatants. He gave me a great scouting report and one thing that stood out was he said the X factor would be John Briody a 5’10 senior guard. These are always the kind of players that make differences in evenly matched games. It happens in the NCAA tournament every year. In 2003, Carmelo Anthony was by far the best player in college basketball but when Syracuse needed a big shot and everyone keying on Anthony, Gerry McNamara stepped up to drain a three. Just watching Briody warm up you could tell he was up for the challenge. He could barely keep his warm up on as he took each shot with great intensity. He was like a pit bull that was locked up in the house all day and was just waiting for that door to swing open. Trinity went through their pregame routine with an “all business” attitude. Although I did see a few embraces by players with the feeling they recognized this was one for their final chances to leave their mark at Trinity Catholic
The game began at a torrid pace. The tigers whipped the ball around the perimeter looking for open gaps through the long arms of Trinity’s smothering defense. Trinity on the offensive end attacked the basket at a furious tempo but had trouble converting these into points. After one quarter of play the Crusaders were down 11. In the second quarter the game settled down a bit. Ridgefield was clearly the deeper team making hockey like line changes to give their starters a rest. Trinity played 6 guys their intensity never took a hit despite what was asked from their starters. The score at half was 32-27 and I sat back into my seat and realized this wasn’t going to be a 29 point ball game it was earlier in the year.
The second half began and Ridgefield turned their perimeter game into balanced inside/out attack. FCIAC player of the year Luke McGarrity was held to two points in the 1st half. Ridgefield’s McGarrity and his Fellow front court mate Chris Knachel began to find creative ways to score in the paint. The two seniors used their bodies to create space in lane amongst the incredible wing spans of the Crusaders. The perimeter game was taken care of by the “pit bull” I saw in warm ups, the X factor, John Briody. Whenever Trinity Catholic would begin to swing momentum their way Briody would be Johnny on the spot and hit a big three pointer. He hit 5 of them to account for his 15 points.
Several times during second half it looked like Ridgefield would pull away, however, each time Trinity Catholic would crawl back on the game. The Crusaders continue to take the ball to the basket led by Malik Newman who scored 17 points. Also keeping them in the game was Senior Akim Joseph who got himself to the free throw line in the second half hitting 8 of 9. Although having several players in foul trouble early, the Crusaders continued to be aggressive defensively and challenge every shot, especially 6’8” Rassoul Abakan and 6’5” Rahsen Fisher showing the true heart of team knowing this could be the last game they all play together.
In the end the Tigers depth and efficiency proved to be too much for Trinity Catholic. John Briody was named MVP and Ridgefield is back to back FCIAC champions. This made 3 conference titles in 4 years cementing them as the premier FCIAC basketball program. The elation from the players and crowd as they stormed the court was fresh, like it was the first time experience. On the other side, I began to feel for the Trinity Catholic community. I saw kids who were underclassmen who weren’t going to get to finish what they started at their school. At the end of the year kids would go to different places. I felt for the future of kids in that Stamford area who will never get that unique Catholic school experience that can get lost in a large public school setting. There is a bond built in those small school buildings that’s hard to explain. Unfortunately the loss of a championship pales in comparison to the loss of a Catholic community.
“He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds” Psalm 147:3
Note: Trinity Catholic played one more game before the Connecticut state tournaments were cancelled due to the concerns over the coronavirus. The Crusaders defeated Notre Dame of Fairfield at home.
