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PIAA Class 4A Boys Championship Preview: Neumann-Goretti vs. Quaker Valley

03/22/2022, 11:45pm EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Quaker Valley hasn’t lost this season. Neumann-Goretti hasn’t lost in a state championship game.

Only one of those two things will be true after Thursday night.

The PIAA Class 4A boys state title contest will pit two programs against each other with 0’s in a loss column they’re awfully proud of, coming from opposite ends of the state to settle things on the court at the GIANT Center in Hershey.


Neumann-Goretti head coach Carl Arrigale (above) is 8-0 in state championship games. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

The Philadelphia Catholic League champion Saints (22-4), who’ve won nine in a row to get back to Hershey for the first time since 2018, will roll in with a perfect 8-0 record in title games under Carl Arrigale, who’s been the coach at Neumann-Goretti since it was Bishop Neumann back in 1998-99.

On the flip side, Mike Mastroianni’s Quakers sport an unblemished 27-0 record, eager for the challenge to prove themselves against one of the biggest names in the state, to make the program’s first trip to the state title game in 23 years worth the wait.

“To finish the type of season we had, with the schedule we played, for us to be standing with our record where it is [...]. I think if you add something else, having to go through them is a natural finish if we’re going to accomplish something like winning a state championship,” Mastroianni said.

“They check all the boxes…they’re an extremely high-level high school basketball team.”

Arrigale’s got yet another squad filled with future college talent, without perhaps the established names of a Ja’Quan Newton or Quade Green, but with ballplayers that the rest of the state’s coming to know quickly enough. They’re here after beating the District 3’s fifth seed, ELCO, then Scranton Prep (2-3), Bethlehem Catholic (11-1) and Dallas (2-1) over the last two weeks.

“It’s what we prepare for, it’s what our goals are,” Arrigale said. “When it comes to Goretti, we’re built to try and win championships, and that’s the goal. It’s to try to win the Catholic League and win the states. 

“It’s what we set out to do each and every year, it’s been passed down from group to group. We hopefully just prepare our guys to the point where they’re poised.”

It’s been an up-and-down couple years for the Saints, which had elongated COVID pauses in both the shortened 2021 season as well as 2021-22, needing to cram in eight games in 12 days to close out the regular season. They missed out on the playoffs entirely in 2021 due to a player eligibility issue, and had their 2020 run ended in the quarterfinal by the pandemic.

Thanks to all of the above, along with a loss to Bishop McDevitt in the 2019 quarterfinals, nobody on Arrigale’s current roster has had the opportunity to play in a state title game. If they don’t win, this senior class will be the first to go without a state title since his ‘09 graduates, 2010 being the program’s first title run.

(The others: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)


Masud Stewart (above) is one of two senior starters in the Saints' lineup. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

That’s a big deal for Arrigale and senior starters Masud Stewart and Aamir Hurst, who aren’t the biggest stars on the Saints but are key parts to their success. The pair of guards, who both have a number of Division II offers — Stewart also has some D-Is involved — combine for about 20 points per game and are both strong outside shooters and defenders.

“These two guys aren’t the star-studded senior classes that we’ve had, they’ve been a little unheralded,” Arrigale said. “They’ve been two really great kids for four years, went through the paces [...] now they’ve put themselves in the company of the rest of the guys where they won a Catholic League title, and now we can put them in the gang with the state title guys. It would be great for them.”

Arrigale’s main weapons are a pair of sophomore guards, Robert Wright III and Khaafiq Myers, and junior forward Sultan Adewale. All three hold more than a few Division I offers; all have had big performance after big performance throughout the postseason.

Wright (6-0) and Myers (5-10) are a smaller backcourt pair than Stewart and Hurst but pack a heavy punch on both ends, combining for more than 28 ppg; the 6-8 Adewale is a physical presence who can score out to 15 feet and defend the rim. 


Khaafiq Myers (above) is a strong outside shooter at point guard. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

“We’ve gotta defend, they’re a really good shooting team, and that poses a problem with how they play through their big,” Mastroianni said, “so I think just us defending and limiting them to one shot is going to be key. We’re playing through some seniors, we’re pretty good at how we value possessions and we’re going to have to be really good with the ball at that end, just because of how high-powered they are.”

The Quakers start four seniors, including 6-6 wing guard Adou Thiero — who has mid-major offers and high-major interest — and 6-5 forward Markus Frank, who’s hearing from all sorts of D-IIs. The two combined for 48 points in Quaker Valley’s semifinal win over Archbishop Carroll (12-5), which came after wins over Hickory (10-3), Belle Vernon (7-4) and Fairview (10-1) in the first three rounds.

Senior guard Jack Gardinier, senior guard Wil Dunda and junior forward Dan Bartels round out the starting group.

“They’re pretty good, they’ve got two guys who score a lot of points, pretty active in transition, they’ve got a little bit of size,” Arrigale said. “They’ve been winning, so they’re accustomed to winning, they’re not going to beat themselves. 

“They do some different things defensively that’ll be a challenge, but we see some things we can exploit.”

Don’t be surprised if 6-5 sophomore wing Amir Williams, a name to watch for 2022-23, gets some extra playing time to help the Saints out defensively. Junior guards Bruce Smith and Shawn Battle, a high-level football recruit, will also provide relief minutes for Neumann-Goretti..

This is the first time Neumann-Goretti has played in the 4A championship game, doing most of their damage at the 3A level — or at the old AAA level, back when there were only four classifications — and there’s no doubt that Quaker Valley presents one of the toughest matchups the Saints have yet had in their championship appearances, every bit as confident, 32 minutes from going the entire year without tasting defeat. 

Through youth, inexperience, the near-complete loss of the 2021 season and the crazy push over the last six weeks, Neumann-Goretti is ready to regain its crown.

“At this point, we got two practices left and one more game in one of the craziest, wackiest two years in Neumann-Goretti basketball [history],” Arrigale said, “and if we can finish this off, it’ll be one of the most amazing accomplishments any of my groups ever had. 

“Because we’ve been dealt nothing but roadblock and curveballs along the way [...] and these guys have been resilient and answered the bell whenever we needed them to.”


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