Cinderella Warriors capture Gold Ball

by Scott Fredericks

Other teams had more height, were more athletic and even had better talent, but on some nights, heart makes all the difference.

St. Cajetan, seeded fourth, knocked off the top two seeds to capture the Southside Catholic Conference tournament championship and the “Gold Ball” trophy with a tremendous performance that culminated with a 33-28 come-from-behind triumph over St. Germaine at Br. Rice High School on March 6.

The Warriors advanced to the championship game with a stunning 34-32 overtime win over the top-seeded squad from Christ the King in the semifinals.

“After we beat Christ the King, I was talking with their assistant coach, and we talked about how much better their athletes were. But what he also talked about was how much heart our kids had, and you could really see that today,” said St. Cajetan Coach Mike Hall. “We weren’t as talented as St. Germaine, but that heart showed again to carry us. When you have eight kids who play as hard as ours do, you can will yourselves to victories.”

Hall has been coaching at St. Cajetan for 17 years and had no recollection of when the last time the Warriors won the eighth-grade boys championship.

Quinn Niego (15 points), Bobby Brophy (10 points and 11 rebounds), Nelson Velez (six points and six rebounds), Charlie Hall (two points and two rebounds) and Zack Harris (eight rebounds) led the way for the Warriors.

St. Cajetan led 9-8 after one quarter and 18-17 at the half.

St. Germaine outscored the Warriors 8-4 in the third quarter to take a slim 25-22 advantage into the final stanza.

The Trojans increased the lead to four in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but it was all St. Cajetan after that.

Niego scored on a drive to cut the lead to two with 2:40 left before Hall hit his lone basket of the game, a runner that hit the front of the rim and went high into the air before falling, knotting the score at 28.

After a few empty possessions for both teams, St. Cajetan had the ball with a chance to take the lead in the final minute. With a doubleteam coming at Niego, he saw Velez alone near the basket. He threw a perfect pass, which Velez converted into a basket with 30 seconds left.

“It’s all about how you come to play at the end. This feels great,” said Niego. “I saw that their defense was discombobulated and that Nelson was cutting to the basket, so I just gave him the ball.”

St. Germaine turned the ball over on the next possession, which allowed Brophy to extend the lead to three with a free throw. Brophy missed the second from the line, but Harris tapped the ball back to Niego with 6.9 seconds left. He was fouled and calmly drained both charity tosses to seal the victory.

“There was pressure, but I just kept telling myself in my mind that there wasn’t any,” said Niego.

Mike Hall credited co-Head Coach Charlie Niego with putting together many of the schemes that made the Warriors successful throughout the year and particularly in the tournament.

Team members of St. Cajetan are Bobby Brophy, Charlie Hall, Nelson Velez, Quinn Niego, Zack Harris, Jack Ladd, Roy Norris and Connor Ioannacci.

This is part of the March 10, 2010 online edition of The Beverly Review.

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