With the playoffs rapidly approaching, the Archbishop Carroll Patriots find themselves in an unexpected position.
In 2025, Archbishop Carroll, riddled with injury, ended their season 4-9 and 12th in the Philadelphia Catholic League. In the off-season, Pats starts Luca Foster and Munir Greig decided to take their talents elsewhere. SG Christian Matos and Chris Kingkiner elected to play elsewhere also. From afar, it looked like the Pats would enter a rebuilding stage and enter the 2026 season as a lower-level team, but since then, things have changed drastically.
The biggest victories for the Pats came before the season even started, with Ian Williams and Drew Corrao fully recovering from their injuries, as well as the squad welcoming newcomer Nikolai Lugendo. It looked like the Pats were bolstering up to make some noise in the Philadelphia Catholic League.
However, despite the impressive lineup, it still took some time for Carroll to figure things out, with the team dropping four of its first six, including two in the Bahamas. Carroll picked up victories over Coolidge (DC) and Episcopal Academy, with losses coming from Nazareth (NY), Malvern Prep, Sagemont Prep (FL), and Milton (GA). Carroll ended non-conference play with back-to-back victories over Gloucester Catholic and Parkland, gearing the team up for its first regular-season game against Roman Catholic.
The Pats did not start conference play well, falling to Roman on opening night, 64-36, and dropping another game to Archbishop Ryan the following week, 80-66. Carroll picked up its first W against Lansdale Catholic. Carroll was 1-2, heading into the game that changed the trajectory of its season.
The day after their game against LC, the Pats traveled out to Paramus HS to take on Saint Joe’s Metuchen (NJ), the fourth ranked team in N.J. The Pats didn’t shoot particularly well against St Joe’s, chucking up 49 shots and making only 17, but their defense kept them in the game against a now 19-1 nationally ranked team. While the Pats lost the game 61-50, they showed sparks of improvement, and proved to themselves that they could go to battle with any team, no matter the circumstance.
Carroll went on a five-game win streak following its game against the Falcons, picking up wins at home against La Salle, Bonner, Devon Prep, and Father Judge. The victories against Judge and Bonner were upsets. In the win over Father Judge, Nasir Ralls became just the 10th player in Carroll history and the first in more than a decade to score 1,000 points in his high school career. During the streak, Carroll also picked up a road win against Conwell-Egan. After its game against the Crusaders, Carroll fell to Saint Joe’s Prep 65-54.
Neumann-Goretti took a trip out to Radnor, looking to extend its winning streak over the Pats, a streak it has held since 2009. Prior to the matchup, excitement erupted in the crowd, with Philadelphia 76ers Superstar Tyrese Maxey making his entrance into the Radnor gym, just one day after his buzzer beater shot in South Philadelphia. The Pats wasted no time getting on the board and holding the lead. Transfer Nick Lugendo had his breakout game, tallying 20 points with 13 rebounds in the massive upset victory over the Saints, a win that officially punched Carroll’s ticket into the 2026 Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs.
On Feb. 1, Carroll took on PCL favorite Archbishop Wood on the road, falling by 15 points in a game that saw Ian Williams and Nasir Ralls combining for 43 of Carroll’s 62 points.
The road losses have become a concern for those around the Catholic League. Archbishop Carroll continues to win at home in front of their supporters, who make Carroll one of the hardest places to play in the PCL, but on the road the Pats are 1-4 with their only road win coming over 1-10 Conwell-Egan, leaving fans with many questions about Carroll’s ability to perform and win on the road, something that they may have to do in the PCL playoffs.
With its ticket punched and two games remaining in the season, Carroll can continue to win and attempt to boost its seed in the playoffs. With both the boys and girls teams in the playoffs, there is still a lot of hoops to play. For information on the boys and girls gamedays/final scores, along with game livestreams, follow along with Carroll Sports Media on all social media platforms.
