By Jack McCaffery
Both philosophically and geographically, the Catholic League long ago lost its way.
Once a neat athletic conference of area-based high school teams with relatively equal access to talent and facilities, its members were forced by financial and demographic realities to either adapt or perish. Complicated story short, it became its own survivor series, the schools racing to find ways to remain relevant enough to avoid disappearing. Among the the most effective escape route would be higher visibility through athletics.
Trouble was, the messaging was so scrambled that it would invite skepticism. It wasn’t so much that talented athletes would cross traditional boundaries to play for a particular coach or program, but that there was rarely a reasonable explanation for the trend.
In basketball and football in particular, players would bob onto Catholic League rosters not only from inconvenient destinations but occasionally from across state lines. Questions about it all were basically deemed tasteless. Coaches, as if on script, would insist that players just sought their programs out, were not awarded scholarships, and arrived on campus for educational and athletic opportunities. Meanwhile, players choosing not to reject Catholic League lures would tell stories about being recruited by them, sometimes even after they had begun their high school careers elsewhere.
He showed just that Saturday afternoon at the Liacouras Center. When the Clippers needed a clutch basket, Womack didn’t disappoint. Chester coach Keith Taylor revealed what he was thinking as Womack lofted the 3-ball from the top of the circle.
