Nine Rockland CYO Basketball Teams Head to States

Nine different Catholic school teams will represent Rockland County this weekend at St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers at the CYO Basketball New York State Championships.

“We’re very proud to have nine teams going down there to the championships,” said Tom Collins, director of Rockland County CYO. “Anything can happen in these games as you see in the college tournament right now. Rockland won four Archdiocese Championships last year and we’re excited to see what happens this year.”

St. Paul’s CYO 5th grade boys is one of the many teams going to states. Coach Ruben Roman explains the process that they went through to get to State: They beat St. Francis in the Rockland County championships and went on to play and defeat St. Joseph’s from Ulster County. Last weekend, they won the Upstate Championship title against St. John's of Goshen.

This weekend, they’re going against the downstate Champions St. Joseph's of Bronxville.

“I think they’ll do fine,” said Roman. “We’ve been practicing since Septemeber, October and they’re very prepared. They practiced very hard this season and winning this weekend will be like the cherry on top of our sundae.”

Another local team that’s going to state is the 8^th grade girls from St. Anthony in Nanuet. Coach Jennifer Wettje is excited about their upcoming game.

“I can’t be more proud of them they’re a great group of girls and they’ve worked so hard throughout the season,” said Wettje. “They deserve to be there this Sunday and hopefully we can pull out a win.”

They’re going up against St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish from Shrub Oak in Westchester County this Sunday.

Earlier in March, they claimed the title of Rockland County Champions and then qualified for the semifinals where they played against an Ulster County team. The next step was to win the Upstate Championships against a Dutchess County team last weekend.

“Now we’re off to the Archdiocese State Championships,” said Wettje. “For St. Anthony to make it to the State Championships, it has been awhile, quite a few years, so this is a big deal for them.”

Downstate includes the following counties: Westchester, Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.

Upstate includes the following counties: Ulster, Duchess, Rockland and Orange.

Patch will keep you posted on the weekend proceedings.

Leave a comment and wish a youngster good luck.