St. Elizabeth Seton Gold won the high school CYO state championship with a win over Immaculate Conception (IC) of Nashua at NHTI in Concord. It was the fifth state title in the last seven years for the team.

Gold received a quarterfinals bye after taking the Manchester High School City Championship title. In the other quarterfinal St. Elizabeth Seton Black beat St. George of Manchester to advance to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Seton Black was defeated by IC while Seton Gold defeated St. Joe’s of Nashua. St. Joe’s threatened late in the game but Gold went 11 for 11 from the line to ice the victory. Ty Allen led all scorers with 28 points, 13 in the all-important fourth quarter. Jarrett Pellerin added 13 of his own. Devan Schappler played shut-down defense to help Gold keep St. Joe’s big men off the boards.

That set up the IC vs. Gold final. Gold led from start to finish playing its typical tough defense and with good offensive rhythm were ahead 15-11 after the first quarter and took a 28-21 lead at the half. Gold put on its press in the third quarter and Evan Natale hit back-to-back 3-pointers to end the third up 50-39. Gold coasted to a 61-50 final led again by another 28-point performance by Ty Allen. Natale finished with 13. Clay Norris played outstanding defense on IC’s point guard threat giving up only two points in the first half and eight points overall.

Seton Gold moves on to the New England CYO Tournament in Bridgeport, Conn., April 1-3, to defend their CYO Regional Title.

St. Elizabeth Seton
5th & 6th graders win states

St. Elizabeth Seton Gold fifth- and sixth-grade boys captured the NH CYO Mites state championship with a win over St. Catherine’s of Manchester at NHTI in Concord. This win marked the second consecutive year that a fifth- and sixth-grade St. Elizabeth Seton team has won the state championship.

After securing the No. 1 seed with an undefeated regular season, Seton Gold began the playoffs with a
quarterfinals bye. Their semi-finals game saw them matched with a very determined St. Patricks team from Pelham. After a back and forth first half Seton Gold opened the second half with an unyielding full court press. This press enabled Seton to open up an insurmountable lead allowing them to advance to the Championship game. As had been the case in the Seton’s semi finals game their stifling full court defense triggered a series of fast breaks points and uncontested layups. This defensive intensity began with the starters and trickled all the way down through the entire team, again illustrating that this Seton Team is one of deep resolve. As the final buzzer sounded the score board revealed a convincing 41-22 win.

Seton Gold now moves on to the New England CYO Tournament in Bridgeport, CT April 1-3. There the team will again lean on the leadership of its sixth graders, TJ O’Connell, A. Grudinskas, C. Chandonnet, R. Juliano, A. Zimmerman, T. Lutz, K. Mahoney, and J. Piacentini.

From the picture left to right:

a. front row: John Shottes, TJ O’Connell, Sam Lubelczyk, Gabe Flores, Andrew Grudinskas, Kasey Mahoney, and Colin Chandonnet

b. back row: Max DiGiovanni, Thomas Lutz, Andrew Zimmerman, Ryan Juliano, Joey Piacentini, and Colin Kelly

c. Coaches: Keith Chandonnet and Michael Fischer