Here's to the school year's winners; bless them all

Photo by Ron Brocato
St. Augustine won its first basketball title since 2011.


By Ron Brocato
Clarion Herald

Catholic schools have always been blessed with outstanding talent on the fields and courts and with mentors who guide them as coaches throughout their high school careers.

But the stars never have shined as bright as those who toiled and triumphed through a pandemic during the 2020-21 school year.

Through all of the hardships, ordeals and distress, the triumphs transcended the difficult months for 15 sports teams representing high schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans that reign as state champions in division or class competition.

The title surge began in grand fashion with St. Mary’s Dominican, Archbishop Hannan and the Academy of the Sacred Heart winning state volleyball championships in their respective divisions in mid-November, and ended on May 15 with Jesuit lifting the Division I state baseball trophy.

And, in between, local Catholic schools won team championships in boys and girls’ soccer, boys’ basketball, powerlifting, bowling, softball and golf. Other championship sports produced 10 team runners-up trophies.

In the face of all the setbacks, the well-trained and conditioned athletes refused to allow their personal and team trials become a deterrent to achieving their individual and collective goals.

The team champions

VOLLEYBALL – Dominican defeated St. Joseph’s Academy, 3 sets to 1, to claim the Division I trophy; Archbishop Hannan swept runner-up Cabrini, 3-0, for the Division III title. And the Academy of the Sacred Heart defeated powerful Pope John Paul II, 3-1, in the finals of the Division IV matches.

WRESTLING – In a sport dominated by Brother Martin and Jesuit over the decades, St. Paul’s claimed its first Division I team title and second overall crown since 2001, when the Wolves won the Division II title. With four individual weight champions, St. Paul’s outpointed runner-up and 28-time champion Holy Cross by 51 points.

SOCCER – Once again, the area claimed three team champions. Holy Cross defeated Benton, 3-0, for the Division II trophy; Pope John Paul II handed Episcopal of Baton Rouge a 2-1 loss in the Division IV finals; and Mount Carmel edged archrival Dominican, 1-0, to claim its seventh Division I girls’ tournament championship.

BOYS’ BASKETBALL – St. Augustine ended a 10-year drought by beating Scotlandville, which had dominated Division I for most of the decade in a championship thriller, 47-44. Jesuit and St. Paul’s were D-I semifinalists.

POWERLIFTING – A second state championship of the fall sports season went to St. Paul’s, as the Wolves tallied 46 points to outweigh runner-up Holy Cross for the Division I trophy. 

SOFTBALL – Archbishop Hannan soundly defeated Haynes Charter, 12-2, for the Division II championship.

SWIMMING – St. Scholastica won the Division II girls' title for the 10th consecutive year. Holy Cross won the Division II boys' championship for the third straight year.    

Photo by Ron Brocato
Archbishop Hannan was one of three state volleyball championship teams from schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

BOWLING – Brother Martin (boys’) and Archbishop Chapelle (girls’) scored a sweep over runner-up Central for the championship trophies. The Crusaders won their title by 15 pins, and the Chipmunks out-rolled their competition, 15-12 to claim the single class state championship.

BOYS’ GOLF – Led by medalist Griffith Dorr’s sudden death victory, St. Paul’s shot a two-day total 140 strokes to edge Benton, for its third Division I of the 2020-21 school year. Ursuline advanced to the semifinals of Division II.

BASEBALL – Jesuit rallied from an also-ran position in the District 9-5A race to claim its 21st diamond title since 1933 via a 6-1 victory over Byrd in the Division I championship game.

LACROSSE – Although this is not an LHSAA-sponsored sport, undefeated Jesuit won the Louisiana High School Lacrosse League title with a 12-8 victory over Catholic High of Baton Rouge.

Runners up honors

CROSS COUNTRY – Silver trophies went to Jesuit and Dominican in the Class 5A races, and to Sacred Heart in the girls’ Class 3A meet.

FOOTBALL – De La Salle topped off its fine season by falling just short of a first Division II title to champion St. Thomas More, 35-28, and St. Charles Catholic fought well, but had to settle for the silver trophy in Division III, with a 12-7 loss to Lafayette Christian.

SWIMMING – Jesuit was runner-up to Catholic of Baton Rouge.

SOCCER – St. Paul’s lost to Catholic, 2-0, in the boys’ D-I finals, and Sacred Heart placed second to Newman, 1-0, in the girls’ D-IV match.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL – Mount Carmel was the D-I runner-up to Curtis,       43-39. Dominican, Ursuline and St. Charles Catholic were semifinalists in their respective divisions.

TENNIS – Brother Martin was runner-up to Catholic, and Mount Carmel placed second to St. Joseph’s Academy in the D-I tournaments.

SOFTBALL – Mount Carmel was the D-I runner-up. Dominican and Chapelle were semifinalists in D-I, while St. Charles Catholic also advanced to the semis in D-III.

BASEBALL – St. Charles Catholic capped its season with the runner-up trophy following a 7-2 loss to Notre Dame.

Congratulations to all the winners. And, regardless of the depth of every students’ his or her contribution to the success of their school’s teams, each student who participated in a high school sport at any level is a winner. And their parents should be proud!

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