chaminade1Chaminade is among the eight teams in Division AA
of the newly formed 16-team New York Catholic League.

(File photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)

There’s some pretty big news on the Catholic school front, folks.

Yesterday, the lacrosse teams representing the New York Archdiocese approved a merger to form a 16-team league with those teams now in the Long Island Archdiocese. Formal approval is expected in November.

What does this mean? A pretty impressive eight-team “Super Division” that will include such teams as St. Anthony’s, Chaminade, Iona Prep and Fordham Prep, with all those teams eventually playing one another home-and-home during the regular season.

This coming season, because the non-league schedules of St. Anthony’s and Chaminade are close to being finalized, some teams in the league will play St. Anthony’s twice and Chaminade once in 2010, and others will play Chaminade twice and St. Anthony’s once. Iona Prep, for instance, is expected to play St. Anthony’s home and home in 2010 and one game vs. Chaminade.

The combined New York Catholic League will include two divisions, with the most competitive teams in Division AA. Each division will have eight teams. The A Division will add Cardinal Spellman and Cardinal Hayes in 2011 when  those schools field varsity teams for the first time.

Here’s a breakdown of the teams:

New York Catholic League

Division AA

St. Anthony’s

Chaminade

Iona Prep

Holy Trinity

St John the Baptist

Kellenberg

Fordham Prep

Monsignor Farrell

Division A

Mount St. Michael

Stepinac

Xaverian

St Joe’s by the Sea

St. Francis

St. Mary’s

St. Dominic’s

St. Raymond’s

Now that you’ve seen the league alignments, be sure to weigh in with your thoughts.

There’s also talk that more changes could be coming, including a Tri-State Catholic League playoff in 2011, in which teams such as Fairfield Prep, Delbarton and Bergen Catholic and Don Bosco could join teams in the New York Catholic League for a postseason event. Stay tuned.

Reach Joe Lombardi at joe@laxlessons.com.

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Posted In: CHSAA lacrosse

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16 Responses to “Catholic League merger should add spice to schedule”

  1. gimme a stick says:

    May be tough for Fordham and Iona early on, but if the league takes off I can see Westchester kids thinking about attending one of these schools over their local HS. We all know Chaminade draws from Manhasset and Garden City, but there is no reason FP and IP cannot draw from throughout a larger area and build strong programs to match great schools.

  2. casual observer says:

    heres how i see it:
    for the next three years there will be the top two teams: st. A’s and chiminade, then a mixture of IP, st. johns, holy trinity, maybe kellenburg and FP, then farrell.
    after that i can see it being IP, st. A’s and chiminade all on the same level

  3. ipdad says:

    Well, there goes the comments on a “weak” Iona Prep and Fordham Schedule.
    Way to step Up!!!!!!

  4. casual observer says:

    joe,
    long time no talk….forgot to ask, what are your thoughts for both the near future and the long term future? will IP of FP be able to run with st. A’s and Chiminade? will this league hurt the local public schools by drawing more top talent to the CHSAA?

  5. Joe Lombardi says:

    CO –

    Hope all’s well with you.

    This is big news on many fronts, especially for programs like Iona Prep and Fordham Prep, who now have the chance to eventually get to the level of St. A’s and Chaminade.

    Playing both St. A’s and Chaminade twice per year (not including postseason), will be huge for them. Iona Prep has modeled its program after St. A’s and Chaminade the way John Jay and Somers have with Yorktown. We’ve seen it can happen in Section 1. Will the CHSAA be next? It could happen. If it does, this will have huge ramifications, not the least of which could be more and more talented players foregoing Section 1 teams for Iona Prep and Fordham Prep, and possibly, down the line, even Stepinac, too.

    I talked to Iona Prep coach Rick Trizano last week about the changes, and needless to say, he’s very excited. In terms of fulfilling his vision of where Iona Prep lacrosse can be, this move gives the Gaels a big boost toward getting there.

  6. slacrosse says:

    Yes might see possible defections from southern westchester Sec 1 schools with the less competitive programs or with weaker schedules + being closer to IP and FP.

    Even further if regional travel restrictions prevail to save $ and strong programs like Rye cant play the traditionally strongest upper west. teams like Town, Somers, LP, etc, watch out for possibility some time of a good Rye kid opting to play a strong sched in the Catholic League.

  7. casual observer says:

    joe,
    all is well. hope your enjying your down time and getting ready for a big season.
    slacrosse,
    thats a really good point I didnt even think of. the travel costs ruining the competition for southern westchester schools along with the beefed up sched of the new CHSAA will force kids who want to play against the best to go to IP of FP or stepinac because the level of play just wont be the same as southern westchester.

  8. slacrosse says:

    casual observer,

    If you’re correct and IP will be at same level as St A and Cham in a few yrs, you can bet that some southern west Sect 1 kid(s) and his parents will decide on a move to IP/FP to get better comp, college coaching exposure, etc. Hope Section 1 is not “penny wise, pound foolish” but I’m not hopeful!

  9. laxbro says:

    The funny part is how all of you are talking about lacrosse, prob the biggest joke of a sport around. Everyone knows that baseball will always be the main sport in the spring people in other parts of the country don’t even know what lacrosse is. Its just a game for kids who are to small to play football and hockey.

  10. casual observer says:

    yea man your so right…and the kids that are too small to play lacrosse, well they just play baseball. even though the last figure i saw had an astonishing 67% of high school lacrosse players played football, 56% play hockey. your statements really make sense with those numbers man. go to sleep you immature little child. mommys got some warm milk and a nice bedtime story for you.

  11. laxman says:

    Observer is right, a very high percentage of football players play lacrosse especially in the lacrosse hotbeds where most of the best athletes play lacrosse over baseball. Lacrosse is like football in hockey in that it has physical contact. Also, it requires athletic ability. Baseball has no contact, hardly any running at all, and does not require much athletic ability at all to be good at.

    Unlike lacrosse, you don’t have to be in very good shape to play baseball, although it’s good to be big and strong to hit the ball far. I never really got into baseball though, don’t know what the big deal is in my opinion it’s a boring sport but that’s just me.

    Baseball may still be the main sport in most of the country, but lacrosse is a growing phenomenon that is a much tougher, more physical, more exciting, and more athletic sport than baseball and is more like football and hockey.

    Lacrosse is also a sport that anyone can play, I mean that you don’t have to be tall like in basketball or huge like most football players. It does though require a lot of skill, speed, and strength to be very successful in.

  12. laxbro says:

    I will give you that laxman you prove a valid point. But it still comes down to this, baseball is the hardest sport to play. It is against physics, using a round bat to hit a round ball square at 90 MPH. Try doing that Casual Observer. Most likely you were not good enough at baseball to continue playing it so maybe thats why you have your panties in a bunch over there. And I would really love to see the web site where you got those so called stats from. I doubt any trust worthy website would even waste there time posting them. Please do not call me a child when professional lacrosse players make no money at all and are on TV maybe once every month just because ESPN2 decides they want to make some money. Mean while baseball players Make millions and I am pretty sure you could turn on the TV at any time and possibly find a live baseball game or some type of old classic game.

    Laxbro out.

    PS: hey Casual Observer whens the last time you herd some kid in pre school say they dreamed of being a Lax player?

  13. ipdad says:

    Joe,
    Lacrosse may be growing even more in the Catholic league. News from Alumni is the Cardinal Spellman is also starting a lacrosse team. While the A division teams may be new and not “strong”, growth may lead to something similar to the NYCHSFL. they play some serious football, top to bottom.

    Laxbro,
    Kids from hotbeds do grow up dreaming of “Cuse and Hopkins.

  14. spectator says:

    laxbro,
    whats with the hostility? this website is dedicated to lacrosse so why would you even think to look at it since this sport sucks so much? Since baseball is so big shouldnt you be looking at some other baseball website that is debating catholic school seedings and such? we havnt said anything about baseball in any of these threads. and lastly try saving a 90 mph shot from 6 yards in a 6 foot by 6 foot net then come talk to me about whats harder.

    as for the catholic schools, i have played against chami and st.a’s and they are two top tier programs with years and years of experience and credability. in the next 3 years is alittle rough to say that prep will be at that level but quite possibly in the next decade or two they could have a shot. programs dont just appear and become good it takes history and heritage to make kids of the future want to be better.

    love to all,
    y-town laxer #1

  15. […] I can report that the Catholic League merger has been officially […]

  16. FriarTuck says:

    Looking forward to the rest year of the league. Big year for new leagues in lax with Big East in college.

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