Highlights are below of the Seton-LaSalle girls and Lincoln Park boys winning state championships earlier today. But first ...
We saw how New Castle basketball fans supported their team in games across the WPIAL this season, packing gyms for the WPIAL playoffs and also home games.
But you have to hand it to these Ne-ca High fans. They will travel also.
A few thousand fans are expected to be in Hershey tomorrow night to watch the undefeated Red Hurricanes play for a state championship against La Salle College High School of Philadelphia. That kind of fan support is practically unheard of these days for a Pennsylvania high school team. Those fans will turn part of the Giant Center into a red and black sea. (The photo is of the Giant Center during tonight's championship doubleheader).
New Castle athletic director Sam Flora said the school sold its allotment of 1,500 tickets in about an-hour-and-a-half Thursday. The Blackhawk girls team also has made it to a PIAA final and will play before New Castle tomorrow. Blackhawk had plenty of tickets left over and Flora said Blackhawk was nice enough to open its ticket office Thursday night and sell tickets to New Castle fans who weren't able to get them at New Castle.
There really is no danger of this game selling out because the Giant Center holds 10,500. Fans can buy tickets at the gate tomorrow. But Flora said he wouldn't be surprised if between 3,000 and 4,000 New Castle fans are in the Giant Center tomorrow.
And how about this: New Castle is taking eight student buses to Hershey and each one holds 55 passengers. So there will be about 400 students going to the game. That is tremendous.
All these New Castle people, driving more than four hours and 263 miles to back their Red Hurricanes. Really, I haven't seen this much support for a team from the west at the state championships since Meadville in 1987. Meadville's colors are also red and black and they seemingly took up about one-third of Hersheypark Arena to watch their beloved Bulldogs take on Carlisle and superstar Billy Owens. Carlisle won, 48-47.
"I will always remember in 1967 when I played football for New Castle and we played Mt. Lebanon for the WPIAL championship on Thanksgiving Day at Pitt Stadium," said Flora. "I still remember all the yellow buses of New Castle fans coming to the game. It was amazing. There were, like, 8,000 to 9,000 people from New Castle that went to the game on Thanksgiving Day.
"There has always been a saying up here that the train is rolling. What is going on this year basically says the train has never stopped even from 1967. It really is remarkable."
But isn't it great to see? Isn't it wonderful that a bunch of teenagers playing a sport can rally people together in a town that has had some tough times over the past few decades?
And get this: New Castle's team left school this morning and were escorted out of town by fire engines.
All of it is just wonderful I say. Unforgettable, too. This run by New Castle - win or lose tomorrow night - and the crazy fans should be remembered for a long time.
Highlights
Here are highlights from Lincoln Park's 70-66 victory against Math, Civics & Sciences for the Class A boys title earlier today. Maverick Rowan scored 37 points for Lincoln Park . Elijah Minnie had eight points, eight rebounds and nine blocks.
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Here are highlights from the Seton-LaSalle girls 58-50 victory against previously undefeated Neumann-Goretti, Seton-LaSalle's Yacine Diop had 10 points, 23 rebounds and six blocked shots. Nicolete Newman scored 17 points and was 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in the final 1:20. Cassidy Walsh added 11 points and 11 rebounds.
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