The St. Raymond sixth-grade Cardinals recently won the North-South Peninsula Parochial School League basketball championship. Playing against Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame, the Cardinals won the title game by a score of 46-34 on March 15.
Under coaches Robert McNamara and Les DeWitt, the team won 17 or its 18 games. Its only loss was to Nativity School in Menlo Park during the regular season. Nativity won by 2 points in sudden death double overtime. During the South Championship, the Cardinals beat Nativity by 1 point.
On the day of the championship game against Our Lady of Angels, the boys had great support from family friends, and the sixth-grade girls who showed up and cheered them on.
The game was neck and neck in the first half; in the third quarter the Cardinals pulled ahead by 10 points and held that lead.
Coach McNamara said each player brought unique talents to the game, making them an effective team.
“Although we had consistently high performers, all the players contributed to the team effort throughout the season,” said Coach McNamara.
The team also won the St. Charles Christmas Tournament, the Los Gatos Hillbrook School Tournament, the PPSL Division Championship and the PPSL North South Championship.
Katie Blankenberg, 12, lives in Portola Valley.<$>
