Saints in championship form as they beat Tigers to claim back to back titles
HERSHEY — It’s no wonder Snip Esterly loves playing at Giant Center: His Berks Catholic team never loses there.
The Saints were good a year ago, in running Middletown off the court. They were even better Thursday, when they knocked down 11 3-pointers and matched their shooting display with stellar defense in beating Fleetwood 73-44 in the District 3 Class 4A championship game at Giant Center.
The championship was the second straight for the top-seeded Saints (22-4) and the fifth in five tries during their 12 seasons. They won back-to-back titles their first two years, in 2012 and 2013, beat Bishop McDevitt in 2018 and Middletown last year.
Few of them have been close. Berks Catholic’s winning margin has been nearly 20 points in those five wins.
“I don’t know what it is, but it seems every time we come in here we play really, really well,” said Esterly, who claimed his 13th district gold, the first nine with Central Catholic.
Like a year ago, when they hit eight 3-pointers, they were red-hot from beyond the arc. They did even better Thursday, making 11-of-23. Ryan Koch, the program’s all-time 3-point leader, made 4-of-8 on 3’s and scored a team-high 20 points.
Return starter Jack Miller knocked down 5-of-9 from 3-point range, including one in each quarter. He finished with 17 points.
“We love shooting the 3,” said Esterly, “and Ryan and Jack were on fire from the outside.”
The Saints kept hitting them until the end of the game. Aidan Gaffney and Parker Nein came off the bench and dropped 3’s on their only attempts.
“We all shot the lights out,” said Miller. “It’s the championship-like feeling (that gets you going).
“Getting your shots up in a big arena like this is hard,” said Koch, “but it helped us being here last year.”
The Saints did more than just shoot. They were crisp with their ball movement, totaling 11 assists, and had just five turnovers.
Senior guard Josiah Jordan set the tone early, attacking the basket and using his quickness to disrupt the Tigers. He finished with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.
All-Berks forward Jake Karnish, Fleetwood’s all-time scoring leader, had a terrific game, with a game-high nine rebounds and a game-high 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting. He didn’t get much scoring help; only junior center Hunter Svoboda, who had 12 points, cracked double figures.
“He’s a phenomenal player,” said Esterly. “He kept them in the game.”
The second-seeded Tigers (22-4) were playing in their first district championship since 1990.
The Saints started fast, getting 3-pointers from Miller and Koch in the opening minutes. Miller added another 3-pointer late in the quarter and Berks Catholic built a 17-7 lead heading into the second quarter.
Karnish had all of Fleetwood’s points in the first quarter.
“It helped getting out to that early lead,” said Koch.
Jordan’s speed was a factor throughout, as he ran the floor and got the rim at will. His rebound and quick outlet to Koch for a layup put Berks Catholic ahead 21-7 in the first minute of the second quarter, forcing Terry Sitler to call a Fleetwood timeout.
The Saints held for the fial 45 seconds of the opening half to set up a final shot and executed it to perfection, with Jaxon Geddio hitting Miller as he cut to the baseline. Miller’s floater settled into the net with two seconds left, pushing the Saints’ lead to 36-22 at intermission.
It was little surprise to see the Saints repeat. They returned three starters in Jordan, Koch and Miller and were bolstered by the transfer of Josh and Kingston McKoy, who played last season at Antietam. Still, it was a thrill to do it again.
“Everybody wants to go back-to-back,” said Miller. “If you can do it, it’s crazy. We talked about this the whole year and it feels great to do it.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Fleetwood | 7 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 44 |
| Berks Catholic | 17 | 19 | 14 | 23 | 73 |
| Tigers (22-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Soumas | 1-7 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Williams | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Karnish | 10-17 | 1-1 | 2-3 | 1 | 9 | 23 |
| Herb | 1-5 | 5-6 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Svoboda | 5-9 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 3 | 12 |
| Hilburt | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ryan | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Senna | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Schaffer | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| McKinney | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 17-42 | 8-10 | 2-10 | 6 | 22-23 | 44 |
| Saints (22-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Geddio | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Jordan | 5-9 | 6-10 | 0-0 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| Koch | 8-15 | 0-1 | 4-8 | 2 | 4 | 20 |
| Miller | 6-10 | 0-0 | 5-9 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
| J. McKoy | 3-4 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| K. McKoy | 3-6 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Treacy | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nein | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Gaffney | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Dominguez | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Altimar | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Diaz | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Komoro | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Garcia | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 27-48 | 8-13 | 11-23 | 11 | 27-28 | 73 |
Turnovers: Fleetwood 9, Berks Catholic 5.
