In an evening full of non-perishable food items and plenty of basketball, St. Paul Regional hosted the Clash of the Saints on Friday night. The entry fee was $5 and a donation to the St. Paul and District Food Bank, and two great basketball evenings drew in crowds from around town.
“For the past few years, we’ve had the Harlem Crowns come, and it was always fun with them, but this year we thought we could do something to help us give more back to the community,” said Brandon Strocki. He helped organize the event, and also played on the staff team as one of Regional’s Phys. Ed teachers.
“We wanted to have an event to help gather donations for the food bank, to reconnect with the community, and wanted it to mostly be local. That’s why, for the first time ever, we’ve included an alumni game instead of the Harlem Crowns,” he explained.
Up first were the Regional senior girls, facing off against a team comprised of Regional staff members. The game was close, and the staff led by just a few baskets at the half. In what could be considered either the best or worst play of the night, science teacher and badminton coach Mark Beaulieu went for a slam dunk on a breakaway, but didn’t come anywhere near the rim. Regardless, cheers, or maybe jeers, erupted from the crowd.
The staff’s long reach and determination to upset the senior girls began helped them to pull away from the girls in the second half. Vice-principal Corey deMoissac was the recipient of many court-length passes and had mastered the art of the lay up by the end of the night.
The senior girls worked hard to not let the staff get to far ahead, and made a great comeback effort in the final minutes. But time wasn’t on their side, and the staff won the first game of the evening 34-25. Other Staff players included vice-principal Angela Noel, Sasha Levasseur, and Travis Rollheiser.
“It was awesome playing against the girls tonight. You come here to have some fun, but those girls really make you work hard,” Strocki laughed after the game. “They don’t take any crap, and their defense is pretty intense.”
The second and final game of the night saw the senior boys play against the Regional alumni team. The alumni lineup consisted of past Regional grads near and far, including Jeff Hatch, Nick Lupul, Josh Robillard, Ben Quan and Maurice Brousseau.
The senior boys team quickly took the lead, using the alumni’s lack of preparation and exercise against them. Parker Lumby and Brad Dubrule made especially easy work of the alumni, while Madison Brousseau consistently drained shots from downtown.
Many of the Alumni players resorted to cheap tricks to try to catch the senior boys off guard, and at the end of the half, the Saints had nearly doubled up on the alumni score.
“It’s kind of funny to see how rusty some of these older guys are,” said Dubrule. “But it’s all in good fun. This is a group of people who really just love to play ball. That’s why there’s people coming back from all over the place just to play in one game. They love this school and they love the sport. So all joking aside, that’s pretty great to see.”
Whether by talent, sheer luck, or the hard work of Ben Quan, the alumni team rallied together, played well off of each other, and ended up defeating the senior boys team.
“I guess in the end, wisdom overcame youth,” said Josh Robillard jokingly, who graduated in 2011 and now works as a journeyman electrician. “I mean, I didn’t really think we could do it to be honest, but hey, you never know.”
However, the real win for the night was the success of the food drive. The Clash of the Saints raised money for the school’s sports programs, and more importantly, received just over $1,000 worth of food donations for the St. Paul and District Food Bank.
St. Paul Regional High School wants to thank everyone who came out and donated to a good cause and a fun evening.
