Are Catholic School Sports Teams Unbeatable?

Friday night I was filming an Easton High School Girls Basketball game for my dad at home, which happened to be against Allentown Central Catholic. At the same time, over in Palmer, the Easton Wrestling team, a historic powerhouse, was facing off with Bethlehem Catholic. Now, both Easton teams are pretty good. The girls basketball team had lost just two games so far this year, to regular powerhouses Phillipsburg and Parkland, and is probably a team bound for districts this year with a bunch of underclassmen. Easton's Wrestling team is much improved on last season, only dropping a thriller to Parkland so far, and having finished well at both the Reno Tournament of Champions and Manheim Holiday tournaments. They also have an honest shot to make the state dual meet tournament this year.

Both Easton squads got cleanly thumped.

The basketball game was entertaining, sitting at just 17-15 Central at halftime. Central broke it open in the third quarter and never looked back, crushing Easton 40-22. The wrestling match was never in question though. Bethlehem Catholic beat Easton 45-9, losing just one bout on the mat (and forfeiting one too). There were a lot of close bouts that Easton lost, but even if they won them all, they'd have just lost closer.

Now, I in no way want to lump the Central girls and the Beca wrestlers in together. They run their programs very differently, and have different reputations. Both are really good though, and both attract only very, very serious athletes in their sports at this point. The point though does run through both sports- even very good teams from a large school in the conference can't compete with them. Perhaps you can point to past Easton Wrestling squads that would have beaten this Bethlehem Catholic one, but you're pointing at some of the very best high school wrestling squads in the history of the sport. They haven't been around in a while, and what happened Friday night is now the rule, not the exception.

I don't really have a problem with these teams being on the schedule at this point, but it is clear that the talent pools are different. In basketball, they de facto handle it by having most of the bigger catholic schools compete in AAA, which is fine. If Central Catholic is that good, it doesn't mean a school like Easton can't compete in the post-season in girls basketball. If Easton is currently the third best wrestling squad in the district though, Bethlehem Catholic will have a joke of a road through District 11 as both a team and as individuals. They'll win half the titles at districts.

Neither school is violating the rules at all. They aren't the culprits, even if we all suspect that one of them is recruiting. The culprit is the PIAA. The football finals were basically a Catholic school championship weekend the past few years. Basketball is the same. Bethlehem Catholic won the last four AA Dual titles in wrestling. At what point is it obvious that these schools are playing different games at this point. Easton is essentially running a community program in their sports, and their Catholic rivals are not. They should all be at least separated into more competitive divisions come the post-season.