Post-season honors for the Baltimore Catholic League were announced today, at the league's annual pre-tournament luncheon, and to the surprise of only a few, the league's top honor in 2008 will be shared by Mount St. Joseph's Henry Sims and St. Frances' Sean Mosley.
The BCL's top coaching honor will also be shared this year, as Towson Catholic's Josh Pratt and William Wells of St. Frances Academy were named co-winners of the Coach of the Year Honors.
Mosley, the four-year Panther superstar who will play next year at the University of Maryland, and Sims, the athletic 6-foot-10 Gael center who will play at Georgetown University next year, were clearly the class of the league this winter and each received an equal number of votes from the league coaches. In addition, both have been nominated as candidates for McDonald's All-American honors.
One year after not being voted Coach of the Year, despite fielding an undefeated team and winning the league title, Towson Catholic's Josh Pratt was recognized by his peers, this year, for leading the Owls to a third-place finish, despite the loss of graduated superstars Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech) and Donte Greene (Syracuse). Wells, who today announced that he is stepping down as head coach and will serve as an assistant to his former star player Marc Karchaer, led the Panthers to a second-place finish in the BCL.
It was a day for the coaches at the 37th annual luncheon, which featured a keynote address from UMBC men's basketball coach Randy Monroe. In addition to the Co-Coaches of the Year, the league honored retiring St. Maria Goretti head coach Cokey Robinson, with a special plaque. An emotional Robinson, who has nearly 800 career wins in his 34 year career, received a standing ovation from all of the BCL coaches and players assembled for the event.
Also yesterday, BCL commissioner Jack Degele announced a new award in honor of retired Calvert Hall head coach Mark Amatucci, one of the league's true legends, who stepped down over the last off season. The award - Baltimore Catholic League Mark Amatucci Defensive Player of the Year - is meant to reflect the intense effort always displayed by Amatucci's Cardinal teams. The first recipient of the honor was Towson Catholic's Brandon Greene.
Heading up the rest of the first team is Jamar Briscoe of Cardinal Gibbons, who is also a McDonald's All-American candidate. He is joined on the first unit by Jonathan Graham of Calvert Hall College, Mount St. Joseph's Eric Atkins, Brandon Greene of Towson Catholic and Matt Rum of Loyola Blakefield.
Here is the complete list of the 2007-2008 BCL honorees, including the second team and honorable mention selctions.
BALTIMORE CATHOLIC LEAGUE CO-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Henry Sims, Mount St. Joseph
Sean Mosley, St. Frances
BALTIMORE CATHOLIC LEAGUE CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR
Josh Pratt, Towson Catholic
William Wells, St. Frances
BALTIMORE CATHOLIC LEAGUE MARK AMATUCCI DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brandon Greene, Towson Catholic
BATLTIMORE CATHOLIC LEAGUE 1ST TEAM
Jamar Briscoe, Cardinal Gibbons
Jonathan Graham, Calvert Hall
Eric Atkins, Mount. St. Joseph
Brandon Greene, Towson Catholic
Matt Rum, Loyola Blakefield
BALTIMORE CATHOLIC LEAGUE 2ND TEAM
Larry Bastfield, Towson Catholic
Kevin Breslin, St. Maria Goretti
Anthony Oquendo, St. Frances
James Davenport, Loyola Blakefield
Paul Kouvaris, Cardinal Gibbons
BALTIMORE CATHOLIC LEAGUE HONORABLE MENTION
Justin McCoy, Mount St. Joseph
Steele Stanwick, Loyola Blakefield
Delmore Howard, Archbishop Spalding
Andre Moore, Archbishop Spalding
Sal Schittino, Loyola Blakefield
R.J. Williams, St. Frances
NEVER, NEVER QUIT AWARD
John Graziano, Archbishop Spalding
Eddie Healy, Calvert Hall
Ryan Zepp, Cardinal Gibbons
Sal Schittino, Loyola Blakefield
Will Lorensen, St. Maria Goretti
Donald Washington, St. Frances
Dominique Davis, Towson Catholic
Chris Olsen, Mount St. Joseph
