BEYOND THE SCOREBOARD
An occasional sports feature highlighting the unique stories of local athletes.
Each final buzzer brought another victory to the boys basketball team at St. Clare/St. Paul School this season.
As the Scranton Catholic school advanced through the playoffs and onto the state tournament, three fathers watched with a different perspective. They understood the nerves, the excitement, the desire to make the Crusader community proud.
Teammates Jimmy Doherty, Matty Seitzinger and Charlie Dennebaum helped lead the school to the eighth grade Catholic Youth Organization state championship in March. Their dads — Jim Doherty, Matt Seitzinger and Matt Dennebaum — did that in 1992.
This victory was even more special for the dads.
“As a parent, seeing your child excel and really just be happy at whatever it is they're doing… that much joy and excitement and just pure youthful expressions of happiness is better than anything I could ever have accomplished on the court myself,” Jim Doherty said last week.
Victory close to home
The school held a Mass and pep rally prior to this year's CYO tournament, hosted by Marywood University.
Crusaders fans, many living close enough to walk to the Dunmore campus, packed the bleachers. St. Clare/St. Paul won its first two games at Marywood. The boys then faced Our Lady of Peace from the Diocese of Erie in the championship game.
“Straight from the jump, we just put it on them," said Jimmy, 14. "We never looked back. We went up early, and we were up 30 points at halftime."
Younger students ran out onto the court as the buzzer sounded and the scoreboard showed a 63-23 victory for the undefeated Crusaders.
“It was really cool. You know, we feel like we run the school now, and everyone's just looking up to us now,” Matty, 14, said. “Ever since I came St. Paul’s, it's been a dream to win a state championship.”
Jimmy scored his 1,000th career point for St. Clare/St. Paul in the final minutes of the game. Coach Burke McGrath — an alumnus — led the team to a 102-3 record over the last three seasons.
Some of the boys have played together since kindergarten. The dads said they knew this team had potential, and the community saw it, too.
“That kind of energy and support you don't really have in many areas of this country, unfortunately, anymore, but this little bubble that we live in, we have that benefit where people come out and just truly support the kids,” Jim Doherty said.
Throughout the season, the dads helped their sons with more than shooting drills and rebounding balls. They eased nerves and provided encouragement. The dads said their sons would likely beat the 1992 champions.
“I would almost guarantee that this team, athleticism-wise, would beat us pretty handedly, based on what we've witnessed," Matt Seitzinger said. "We were good in our own right, too. But these guys are special.”
Neighborhood tradition
A few boys played basketball on the school’s blacktop lot one evening last week. The bouncing balls echoed off St. Paul’s Church across the street and provided a soundtrack for the busy block with Zummo’s Cafe.
Matt Seitzinger said he grew up playing in the neighborhood — which helped form bonds and relationships that last to this day.
“Honestly, the way that we were raised was you're going outside and you're playing and you're going to be in your neighborhood, no matter what the weather,” he said. “You got home from school, you picked up a ball, and you went out and you just found a game.”
With that tradition, the school has provided a spiritual, academic and athletic home to multiple generations of children.
The school replaced the concrete gymnasium floor with hardwood since the dads played. But much of the room looks identical more than 30 years later. The gym feels warm — sometimes too warm — on cold winter days. Fans pack the bleachers and line up to watch from the adjacent cafeteria.
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey played basketball for the Crusaders. Former President Joe Biden also attended St. Paul’s school. Many teammates have gone on to play at the collegiate level.
The fathers and sons sat under banners in the gym last week. The gold lettering shows seven state championships for boys basketball, the first in 1983, and the latest last month.
Charlie, Jimmy and Matty started kindergarten together, and they plan to move on together to Scranton Preparatory School in the fall.
Their team’s legacy — and the legacy of their fathers’ team — will continue to hang on the gym wall inside St. Clare/St. Paul.
“Once a Crusader, always a Crusader,” Jimmy said.
