City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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For Marc Rodriguez, it has never been about milestones or personal accomplishments.

Having been a three-year starter and one of the top scorers in the Philadelphia Catholic League during the time, Rodriguez has had his share of personal accolades (Second Team All-Catholic last season) and team accomplishments (three consecutive playoff appearances) over the course of four years.

Through all of this, he has remained focused on being team-oriented and hasn’t gotten caught up individual success but this time is about may be more about him and what he has meant to the Father Judge program.

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior combo guard became the first player in Father Judge history to score 1,000 career points. He accomplished the feat after hitting two free throws en route to a 27-point performance in a 68-60 victory over Archbishop Wood on Jan. 3.  

Even after adding another impressive game with 20 points in a losing effort to the Cahillites, Rodriguez remained the humble leader that he has been for much of his career.

“I try to appreciate it but try not to get too high because my whole team needs me to be great leader and still work hard every day,” Rodriguez said. “It hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m trying to save that for after the season so I can focus on all of our main games as well as my team.”

Rodriguez’s point total currently stands at 1,045 points for a program which has been a member of the Catholic League since 1955-56, according to Ted Silary. The Crusaders’ 62 years without a 1,000-point scorer is the longest in the history of the PCL, ahead of Conwell-Egan (39). What makes the accomplishment so incredible is he still has ten regular-season games left plus potential postseason contests to increase that total.

Over the last two seasons, Rodriguez has scored in double figures in all but four games for head coach Sean Tait’s Crusaders. For Tait, who played at Father Judge from 1992-95 under former coach Bill Fox, the school’s all-time winningest coach, it was a special feeling to have been able to see Rodriguez set this mark under his tutelage and guidance.

“It’s nice because I played here and had a nice career. To see Marc pass my own scoring mark and become the school’s all-time leading scorer is spectacular because he’s such a good kid,” Tait said. “Basketball aside, he’s one of the nicest kids I’ve ever come in contact with as a coach. Just all around, he’s a great kid. It’s pretty special.”

Tait, now in his eight year with the Crusaders (9-3, 2-1 PCL), has seen Rodriguez grow from being a guy who made plays only when called upon to a player who can score in variety of ways while commanding attention both on and off the court from his teammates.

“When he was a freshman, he was an inexperienced guard and each year got better and better,” Tait said. “It showed how much in his work ethic and how hard he worked. As a freshman, he was [already] a leader. We were just so lucky to have him.”

Rodriguez has increased his scoring output in each of the past three seasons at Father Judge: 10.0 ppg in his sophomore year to 14.7 as a junior to 19.8 in his senior season. He has grown alongside players such as Will Brazukas (Moravian), Justin Fleming (Neumann), Quincey Reed (Manor) and Quinn DeNofa (Penn State-Abington).

While the Crusaders have been one of the smaller teams in the PCL in recent years, Rodriguez has been able to have success in Tait’s dribble-drive offense and believes that system has allowed him to get to where he is now.

“It’s more just kind of based on constant motion and that’s the type of offense I just love to play in. Anyone can shine since we’re constantly moving. I think a whole lot of people think just because we’re small that we can’t compete. [Our motto is] heart, smart and togetherness. Using that will always just improve the outcome.”

After Roman began celebrating after Chris Kuhar nailed the game-winning 3-pointer in the Cahillites 41-38 victory, Rodriguez was the only player on the Crusader’s sideline clapping for his teammates’ effort throughout the game and consoling each one individually.

He’s always been the first to recognize his teammates over his own personal accomplishments, which just adds the validity that he is now the school’s first 1,000-point scorer.