City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2025-26 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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Excuse Tom Heston for teeming with confidence. In just his second season last year, the Holy Ghost Prep coach directed his team to the District 1 Class 5A championship game, lost four starters and nine seniors to graduation, including one of the school’s all-time leading scorers in Adrien “Ace” Varella (Misericordia), and comes right out and says the Firebirds could be even better than they were a year ago.

Heston may have good reason to feel that way.

Under Heston the last two years, the Firebirds have gradually gone from 12-11 to 19-10 last season, reaching the District 1 Class 5A championship, bowing out to Upper Dublin, 75-51, and losing to Penncrest, which No. 7-seed Holy Ghost Prep upset in the district playoffs to reach the finals, in the second round of the PIAA Class 5A state playoffs.

This season marks the final year Holy Ghost Prep plays an independent schedule. Call this 2025-26 season the dress rehearsal for Holy Ghost Prep’s entry next year into the powerful Philadelphia Catholic League, home of four of the six reigning PIAA state champions.

Heston, who took over at Holy Ghost Prep for the legendary Tony Chapman, will need to make up for Varella’s considerable offensive output each night this season. Varella polished off a great career by averaging 18 points and 8 rebounds a game his senior year. Heston will look toward lone returning starter, 5-foot-10 senior guard Adam McDonald, a three-year starter, to compensate for those missing points, and McDonald will get considerable help from 6-5 senior forward Liam Duffy, 6-3 senior guard Jack Farrell, 6-5 sophomore forward Liam Condon, a rising star, 5-10 senior guard Chris Albright, 6-2 junior guard Max Milici and 5-10 sophomore guard KJ Rhodes.

Heston has filled the Firebirds’ independent schedule with La Salle, the only Catholic League team on the schedule, and quality programs like Pennsbury, Bensalem and Bristol. The team will be going out to Phoenix, Arizona, over the Christmas break for the Cactus Jam.

Heston is not exactly a believer in trends, though this is a trend he may bend a little for: In each of the last three years, the team that lost in the District 1 Class 5A championship came back the following year to win it (Radnor in 2023, Unionville in 2024 and Upper Dublin in 2025).

Varella’s graduation certainly leaves a void on the offensive end, though his departure also provides an opening to players like McDonald, Duffy and Condon to show what they can do with the ball. Opposing teams doubled and sometimes triple-teamed Varella. Without a defined “go-to” player, entering the season, the Firebirds have the flexibility of multiple scoring options.

“We will share the ball more and have more guys score in double digits this year,” Heston said. “We may be even better than we were last year. This is a tougher, more competitive team internally than we have been. The offseason workouts that we have been getting into, it’s not ‘you’re my classmate, you’re my friend, let’s have fun,’ it’s ‘I want to beat the hell out of you.’ That attitude pushes everyone on the team to be better. That falls right into my coaching style, getting after teams, we are going to guard, we are going to pressure the basketball and push the pace. If I yell at a player, it’s not because I am mad at them, it’s because I know that they can do better. And these guys demand better of themselves. This group knows what to expect.”

McDonald is the clear leader. He has been on the tense district playoff and state playoff stages. McDonald likes this team’s tenacity. It is a sum-is-better-than-its-individual-parts type of team.

“We will be more of a team this year, we will involve others in the offense,” McDonald said. “People may look by us, because we don’t have that star power we did last year. But we have guys coming up like Condon who are going to give us a boost. Duffy, too, will be a big plus. We could be as good on offense, if not better. We have three, four, five different guys who can score on this team, which will make us tough to defend. This summer, we would have one guy score 20, and another game, it was someone else.

“Losing (the district finals), it was hard watching our seniors walking off the court and seeing how much they invested in the season. We have high expectations and that comes from the playoffs last year.”

Now, Heston nor the Firebirds would reveal anything, but Holy Ghost Prep is going to look different this season. Heston may run more and press more frequently.

“Last year’s seniors pushed us hard in practice and we are bringing that same mentality to this team,” said Condon, who has put on 15 pounds since last season. “Coach Heston is working on some new things offensively. He’s like this mad scientist in the lab cooking up new plays that we’re excited to use.”

Condon and Duffy, Holy Ghost Prep’s 6-5 forwards, bang heads every day in practice and they both benefit—as does Holy Ghost Prep. Though the Firebirds are not in a league, they have a good idea the teams they face this season will treat them like they are.   

“There are going to be teams who saw we lost all these seniors, and they may underestimate us, but we will be running some new things this year,” Duffy said. “I wish I could play another year to play in the Catholic League. I am a senior. I miss out. We’re not in the Catholic League yet, but I think we want to put on a good first impression. I definitely think there will be more eyes on us knowing we are about to enter the Catholic League (next year). I want to go out with a district title and make it as far as we can in states. That’s the goal.”

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.