School basketball teams head to Catholic Youth Organization New England Regional

BY BILL DOYLE
CFP CORRESPONDENT

The St. John’s middle school boys basketball team is heading back to the Catholic Youth Organization New England Regional and coach Sean Hastings likes his team’s chances.

“I like the way the kids are playing,” he said. “Our size will be a factor. We have four kids 6 feet tall or over. I don’t think there are a lot of teams that can say they have that. And we have four guards who can be solid point guards or shooting guards. So, we have a lot of depth and a lot of versatility.”

St. John’s captured the Diocese of Worcester New England Regional Qualifying Tournament in the seventh and eighth grade division for the third consecutive year.

The Pioneers won all of their four tournament games at St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury by double figures, including defeating Nativity School of Worcester, 51-31, in the championship game on March 10.

St. John’s also defeated Nativity earlier in the tournament and beat Our Lady of the Valley School from Uxbridge and St. Leo School from Leominster.

Mr. Hastings attributed his team’s success to its unselfish and up-tempo play.
“Our kids ran the court really well,” he said. “I always want to push our kids to get down the court before the defense has a chance to set up. We got a lot of points in transition.”

The New England Regional will be held Friday-Sunday in Manchester, New Hampshire. St. John’s is scheduled to play St. Joseph Regional Junior High School of Manchester at 6 p.m. Friday at Trinity High School in Manchester. The winner will advance to play Christ the King School of Burlington, Vermont at 10 a.m. Saturday at Bedford High School in Bedford, New Hampshire. The final is scheduled for noon on Sunday at St. Anselm College in Manchester.
Mr. Hastings is assistant athletic director and teaches biology at St. John’s High School. He and his assistant coach Peter Smith have a deep team so eight players rotate among the five starting positions.

Point guard Graham Chiota was named Most Valuable Player of the New England Qualifying Tournament.

Joe Spillane and Eli White, both 6-foot-3 centers, are tough rebounders and scorers under the basket. Forwards Mike Komenos and Austin Zilla are both 6 feet tall and contribute even more rebounding.

Evan Lind, Keegan Spaulding and Lincoln Fournier provide strong guard play.

Teddy Conway, Will Molinari, Brady Jaupaj, Ashton Glynn and Farzaad Hussain round out the St. John’s roster.

Mr. Hastings said learning how to play together and play unselfishly were the biggest challenges the team faced this season.

“They took to coaching well,” he said. “They took to the game plan well and they just started clicking. It was great.”

St. John’s won the qualifying tournament in 2022, but was not able to travel to Burlington, Vermont to play in the New England Tournament. The Pioneers captured the qualifier again last year and made it all the way to the New England championship game in Providence before losing a close game to St. Bernard School of Uncasville, Connecticut.

Spaulding, Fournier and White were reserves on last year’s team
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St. Bernard is in the tournament again this year, but it’s on the other side of the bracket so it couldn’t play St. John’s until the final.

“I think our best team was last year,” Mr. Hastings said, “but this team is performing really well. This team could give last year’s team a run for the money.”

The Pioneers have compiled a 13-4 record with all four losses coming to teams outside the diocese. St. John’s has never lost to a team in the diocese since it began its middle school program three years ago.

Win or lose, the Pioneers pray the Our Father together before and after each game.

Two teams from St. Leo School of Leominster and one from Our Lady of the Valley School in Uxbridge will also represent the Worcester Diocese in the New England Tournament. The St. Leo seventh and eighth grade girls will play St. Christopher Academy of Nashua at 7 p.m. Friday at Trinity High School and the St. Leo fifth and sixth grade boys will play St. Mary School of Milford, Connecticut at noon Saturday at McKelvie Intermediate School in Bedford, New Hampshire.

The Our Lady of the Valley fifth and sixth grade girls will play St. Timothy School of West Hartford, Connecticut at noon Saturday at Henry J. McLaughlin Junior Middle School in Manchester.