Archbishop Carroll had a moment to celebrate Tuesday in what has become one of the most disappointing seasons in recent memory.
That was the result of Tuesday afternoon’s 73-43 victory over Valley Forge Military Academy for boys basketball, a win that marked the 200th in the career of head coach Francis Bowe. Those 200 came divided up among the head man’s stints with Upper Merion High School, Valley Forge Military, and Carroll.
“Yea, I’ve been doing this a while,” Bowe said. “It was a real surreal feeling to be able to do it back in this gym. It just means a lot because this job helped me get the Carroll job. If I didn’t have success or I wasn’t doing well, I wouldn’t have been hired at Carroll. I owe this place a lot.”
Bowe spent five mainly successful seasons with the Trojans between 2013 and 2018, finishing his time in Wayne with a record of 77-50 before heading to the Hilltop. He helped Valley Forge to consecutive District 1 Championships in 2017 and 2018, while also making runs into the PIAA’s Elite Eight in 2017 and Sweet 16 in 2018.
It was in 2018 that Bowe was brought in to be head coach at Carroll. Since then, the team has enjoyed prolonged success with multiple Philadelphia Catholic League and PIAA state playoff runs coming. Bowe has also never seen his club finish under .500. The closest he got was during a shortened 2020-2021 season when a club led by Anquan Hill and Moses Hipps finished just 9-7.
That streak could be in jeopardy this year, as the team just now broke a four-game losing streak that has it sitting at 7-11 on the season with a daunting stretch of games against Catholic League contenders to come.
“I was obviously hoping to have 200 a few weeks ago at this point,” said Bowe. “I was really proud of our boys. They took the game seriously and understood we had to work on some things.”
After a January 12 victory over Lansdale Catholic, the Pats have found themselves treading water. They lost four in a row to top contender St. Joe’s Prep, West Catholic, Archbishop Wood, and Neumann-Goretti — all teams that appeared beatable at the start of the Catholic League campaign.
The team now sits at 2-7 in PCL play and 12th in the league standings. Carroll needs to reach the 10th seed to make the Catholic League playoffs. The team also is looking toward games against Devon Prep and Conwell-Egan because it can secure a state playoff spot with wins against one of the two.
In front of the Pats is a murderers’ row of opponents that begins with a quick slashing offense in Bonner-Prendie on Friday night in Drexel Hill. Carroll will then head up the Boulevard for a Monday night matchup with Father Judge, one of the most physical and hard-nosed teams in the league. Finally, next Friday, the Patriots will head just down to the road to Devon Prep to face the Catholic League’s darling and suddenly a championship favorite in the Tide.
If Carroll wants any chance of even scratching the bottom of the playoff barrel, they’ll need to provide some big changes.
“It’s really been two big things: defensive intensity through all 32 minutes, and, honestly, the lack of leadership on the floor,” Bowe said. “It’s sort of just taking our lumps and trying to figure out, can we learn from it all?”
Carroll’s final out-of-conference matchup was scheduled late because of uncertainties about how many games the team would play during their trip to City of Palms back in December. Although it was against lesser competition, it did give Bowe’s team the chance to find themselves in more ways than one.
The Pats took initiative from the open as Luca Foster nearly grabbed the opening tip-off for himself and ran it right up the court for the first of his 34 points on the afternoon – a tally that matched his season high. Carroll continued to work through the kinks of the first quarter before taking off on offense in the second period, outscoring Valley Forge 17-8.
Foster continued his barrage as he came out midway through the third period following a stretch where he scored the Pats first 11 points on the team’s first four possessions consecutively.
As the Carroll lead grew into the thirties, Bowe got the chance to empty his bench of an interesting plethora of players that could quite possibly come in handy down the stretch of the Catholic League season with an already thin lineup. Bowe has also made it clear that guys will need to step up come state playoff time as both Christian Matos and Eric White will most likely be declared ineligible under PIAA transfer regulations (although Matos’ hearing is still to come).
Through the final quarter of play, junior guard Nigel Lambert and a pair of freshmen — Kaiden Mooty and Cesar Richardson — got a shot to prove their worth for the end of the season. Lambert finished with five points, a board and an assist, while Richardson finished with six points and five grinding rebounds. Mooty followed along with two points and a board.
“We haven’t done ourselves any favors this year,” said Bowe. “Though this Catholic League, especially this year, you just never know. Maybe we can catch a hot streak. You just never know.”
With the win Carroll will move to 7-11 on the year as the team prepares for this Friday’s matchup with Bonner-Prendie in Drexel Hill for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
