Archbishop Carroll’s Luca Foster gets a basket with Allentown Central Catholic’s David Fridia defending. (Tom Silknitter/For MediaNews Group)
By Ed Morlock
None of the nine players on Archbishop Carroll’s roster were on the team in 2021 that blew a 17-point lead against Allentown Central Catholic in the PIAA-4A state quarterfinals. The six sophomores and three freshmen weren’t even in eighth grade when that game was played.
But they were on the court Tuesday night and got revenge.
(12-3) Archbishop Carroll overcame a 15-point deficit and rallied to beat (11-1) Allentown Central Catholic, 62-56, in the second round of the PIAA-4A state playoffs at Norristown Area High School.
“Apparently Allentown Central Catholic is our rival now,” Carroll coach Francis Bowe joked, “because I’ve played them now three times in states. One year they beat us, they came back from (17) and they won a state championship. It was like, we’re down … we can come back and hopefully pray to get the same result.
“It’s always a tale of two stories with our guys. We’re freshmen and sophomores, so you’re going to go through these moments where they’re in a fog and then you’re going to be super locked in, turn it on, turn it off… They’re just great kids. They’re competitive. They are what I would call ‘one through nine hoopers.’ They just want to play basketball.”
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