By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
Five years ago, it was no surprise that Wildwood Catholic was squaring off against St. Augustine Prep in the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament championship game.
The Crusaders had guys like Taj Thweatt, DaSean Lopez, Jahlil White, Jacob Hopping and Martin Anguelov — players who combined for more than 1,600 points that season while leading Wildwood Catholic to 24 wins, the CAL title and a sectional championship.
St. Augustine Prep won 24 games as well, went 12-0 in the CAL American Conference, won a sectional title and had guys such as Matt Delaney, John Horner, Keith Palek and sophomore sensation Elmarko Jackson.
This year, however, it is a surprise that the Crusaders and Hermits will be tangling in the league championship game, set for Saturday at 2 p.m. at Egg Harbor Township High. A few years ago, the league expanded the tournament past its traditional eight teams, and this marks the highest combined number if you add up the seeds, as Wildwood Catholic Academy came in as the No. 5 seed while Prep was seeded sixth.
It’s been a grind for the Crusaders, who got a bye in the first round then beat No. 12 Vineland, upset No. 4 Ocean City, 52-51, in the quarterfinals, then outlasted top-seeded Atlantic City on Wednesday night, winning 62-58 in a game that came down to the final minute. But this year’s version of the Crusaders is used to grinding, as they had to navigate through the always tough CAL American Conference and played some tough non-league teams, too. They also had to wait for Middle Township transfer Riley Powell to get eligible, as he had to sit for 30 days from Wildwood Catholic’s first game because of the transfer rule.
Despite all that, the Crusaders made it to the championship game, mostly because they are playing with confidence now and have bigger goals in mind. Winning a league championship might have been a pipe dream in December, but wins over teams like Middle, Ocean City — and St. Augustine Prep earlier in the season — has the Crusaders believing they are a pretty good squad.
“Obviously, we’re dealing with kids, so you don’t know what you’re going to get from one day to the next. We beat Ocean City on a Thursday, then play Holy Spirit on a Saturday and lose, and we didn’t play (our best), we didn’t pound the ball inside, it was a Saturday noon game and our guys were just kind of going through the motions. I don’t know what they did Friday night,” said Will Wareham, who’s in his third year at the helm since taking over for Anthony Raffa. “We beat Ocean City on that Thursday and our guys know we’re playing Middle on Monday, and Holy Spirit — who, obviously, is no easy out, they’re playing in the (CAL) semifinals as well — and what happened was, after we beat Middle, we tried to tell our guys that can’t be our Super Bowl. Beating Middle can’t be the crown jewel of our season, and if it is, what are coming back to practice for? What are we going to play the rest of the games for?
“We won some games where I was not happy with how we played, we were just fortunate enough to be a little bit more talented and we won those games.”
It should be a great matchup with St. Augustine, as both teams have solid front lines. Powell, Tayshaun Jackson and Alex Daniel will be matching up with the Prep trio of Rory Friel, Kyle Helphenstine and Mide Okebiorun. Friel and Okebiorun dealt with injuries in the middle of the season but are back now, and the Hermits have won seven of their last nine games.
The title game also provides Wareham with a chance to match wits with one of the best high school basketball coaches in the country’s history — Paul Rodio, who has more than 1,000 wins and the court at St. Augustine Prep named after him.
“Coach Rodio is far and away the nicest dude in the world. I actually talked to him (Wednesday) morning, at, like, 8:30 in the morning he pocket-dialed me. I called him back and he said, ‘Will, I pocked-dialed ya, buddy, but maybe this is an omen,’” Wareham said. “We said a couple other things to one another. Nobody can say enough about the guy, he’s a class act. And what are the chances you get to coach against somebody who has 1,000 wins and is very likely going to go into the Naismith (Memorial Basketball) Hall of Fame? He’s one of four or five high school coaches in the country with 1,000 wins. What better way to go and play on a Saturday for a Cape-Atlantic League championship than against the guy who’s probably the best ever to do it in South Jersey?”
