Pennsylvania: Archbishop Carroll Makes History, Wants More

Back in November, Archbishop Carroll basketball coach Paul Romanczuk might have thought there was a greater chance he’d be talking about tax returns in late-March than facing a phalanx of microphones fielding questions from reporters across Pennsylvania about his team playing for the PIAA Class AAA state championship.

But that’s where the Patriots are, on the verge of making history when they face the Greensburg Salem Lions (23-5), at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center Friday night at 8 p.m.

Carroll (27-3) made history in becoming the first Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) boys basketball team to reach the state championship game. This is the first year the PCL is permitted to play in the PIAA, Pennsylvania’s governing body for high school sports. Now the Pats want to make a little more history—becoming the first PCL boys’ team to win a PIAA state championship.

What got the Pats to this point was a 70-65 victory over PCL rival Neumann-Goretti, considered by many to be the best team in Pennsylvania, on March 13 in the state quarterfinals. Carroll junior guard D.J. Irving exploded for a career-best 26 points in getting the Pats by a team that was responsible for two of their three losses this season.

It snapped Carroll’s streak of 18-straight defeats to Neumann-Goretti and it marked the Pats first victory over the PCL powerhouse since 2001.

But it came as nothing really knew to Romanczuk, a 1995 Carroll graduate who played at Penn.

“We thought that this would be a very good team and the word I used at the start of the season was special,” Romanczuk said. “We needed to work hard and just keep plowing away if there were some bumps in the road, but if you asked me back in November if I still saw us playing on March 20, I’d probably say no. I knew the possibility existed, but that had to mean getting by Neumann-Goretti.”

The PCL has been dominated by Neumann-Goretti, Roman Catholic and St. Joseph’s Prep the last 15 years. Carroll was usually an afterthought, struggling to make one of the last playoff spots. But when this team, comprised of Irving, 6-3 sophomore guard Juan’ya Green, 6-5 senior center Kasheef Festus, 6-2 senior forward Andre Wilburn and 6-4 junior forward Ben Mingledough, beat a very good Norristown team, at Norristown, 68-56, on January 24, something started happening.

Carroll began believing it could play deep into March.

“That’s what did it for me,” Irving said. “I had the feeling after we beat Norristown, a team that had a lot of hype, we could get this far. We came in and beat them at their place, and after that game, we knew we were good. But I suppose we really didn’t think that until after we beat Neumann-Goretti in the state quarterfinals. I think all of our guys started to think we could do this, that we could be very special. Neumann-Goretti walked around knowing they were the best team, and everyone else did, too. We just had to prove to them that they weren’t.”

The Pats will be facing a tough Greensburg Salem team that reached this point by beating four teams in the state playoffs with a combined record of 95-11. The Lions also did it with steely nerves, winning their last three games by a total of four points, taking two of those three on last-second shots by senior guard Chris Klimchock.

But Carroll didn’t exactly reach this destination on a magic carpet, either. The Pats have been in desperation, one-and-done mode for a month. After losing to Roman in the PCL semifinals. Carroll had to beat Simon Gratz (63-39), Phoenixville (56-50), Shamokin (62-51), Neumann-Goretti (70-65) and finally York Suburban (65-57) in the state semis to get here.

“I think we started to truly believe in ourselves after coming back from the Roman loss, that’s what did it,” Romanczuk said. “We had three really good practices leading up to the Gratz game and we went from there. We wanted to keep playing. We didn’t win the Catholic League, but there was a second goal still out there to achieve.”

And that’s been the twist that the Carroll players are still trying to grasp. The Pats haven’t won anything, getting knocked out of the Catholic League playoffs by Roman and finishing third in District 12. Now here they sit, winning the ultimate team prize of any Pennsylvania high school basketball player—a state title.

“To me, personally, this means everything, because I’m from Chester and every year, it seems, you always see Chester winning the state championship,” Irving said. “This means more than a Catholic League title or a state title, it means you’re the best in the state. And if people want to say Neumann-Goretti was, well, we’re still here playing and we had to beat the best to get here.”

Maybe making Carroll the best?

Joseph Santoliquito covers high school sports for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a frequent contributor to MaxPreps.com.