They’ve seen it all.
Those were the words Archbishop Carroll head coach Francis Bowe used to describe his team’s fitness heading into next week’s Philadelphia Catholic League opener against Roman Catholic following the Patriots’ 77-64 win over Woodbury High School (NJ).
“You know what? We’ve seen everything,” said Bowe. “That was the goal for this year. Not (the) injuries, but the goal was to see the best competition so we could go against the best.”
While the Patriots, who finished last season 8-5 in the Catholic League, were eventually knocked out by Neumann-Goretti in the PCL playoff’s second round and then Lincoln Park in the state championship, they are experienced. The team continued to gain valuable experience this year, going up against some of the nation’s best teams in the City of Palms Tournament last week.
The Pats went 0-3 down in Fort Myers after going up against some of the nation’s best competition, while losing yet another valuable member of their starting five in 6 ‘8 junior center Drew Corrao, who sustained a right foot injury that will keep him out for the foreseeable future.
Corrao joins the team’s captain, Ian Williams, who has been on the bench after suffering a knee injury during AAU play. The knee injury looks to keep Williams out indefinitely as well.
With that, fans and team members collectively held their breath in the second quarter as junior forward Luca Foster and junior guard Chris Kingkiner hit the deck within the same minute as the Pats climbed back to a 29-24 lead after trailing for most of the first quarter.
Kingkiner didn’t take long to get back up and into the game, although Foster winced in pain on the sidelines, holding his knee for an extended period of time before reentering the game following halftime.
“Yea, he (Luca) will be fine, though with the way we’ve been going down with injuries lately you always worry about those kinds of things,” Bowe said.
After his return, Foster helped get Carroll some separation as the team went on a 34-17 run in the third period. Junior swing man Nasir Ralls and junior guard Christian Matos supplied a barrage of buckets to help the club pull away just the same.
After scratching and clawing through the beginning of the fourth period, it became clear that Woodbury couldn’t play with Carroll much longer as the Patriots finally put them to rest in the middle of the final period, nearing a 20-point lead.
Though even as Woodbury fell out of contention and the lead grew, Carroll was forced to keep its starters in because of the team’s now-apparent lack of depth.
Operating at one point during the game with just six players who have varsity experience, the Patriots have struggled to fill the empty seats on the bench. With the loss of Corrao, the team will likely rely on a starting lineup consisting of Foster, Ralls, Matos, sophomore forward Munir Grieg, and freshman guard Yasir Turner while going just two deep on the bench with Kingkiner and junior guard Eric White.
As the season progresses, the team’s health will be a key factor, as just one more injury could meet the team with much bigger issues. In the ever competitive and fast paced Catholic League, it will be interesting to see how the Patriots can mediate their rotation when it comes to player stamina.
Before the Catholic League becomes priority, Carroll will finish up its preseason this Sunday in New York City for the Jordan Brand Classic against the No. 21 team in the nation, St. Frances.
