A coach, a promise, and chicken and rice: How Father Judge became king of the Catholic League

Jim Reeves, scissors in hand, directed traffic Sunday afternoon as each Father Judge player climbed the ladder at the Palestra to cut the net twine by twine after the Crusaders won their second straight Catholic League boys’ basketball title.

Finally, the net was hanging by just a few threads.

“Where’s Coach?” Reeves shouted over the crowd still buzzing from a 55-52 win over Neumann Goretti.

And there he was: Chris Roantree, the former Judge power forward and linebacker who played college football and got his start coaching basketball by shepherding fifth graders at the Rhawnhurst Recreation Center.

Roantree promised Judge’s president in 2021 that the Crusaders — who often just felt like a team on the schedule — would win a Catholic League title in five years if he was hired. Judge had not won since 1998 but Roantree had a plan. The job was his.

Roantree followed through last February in season No. 5 and climbed the ladder on Sunday to cut the nets down for a second time, proving that last year was more than just a good story.

The Catholic League has long been dominated by schools like Roman Catholic and Neumann Goretti, which Roantree called Sunday “the blue bloods.” But the team dressed in Columbia Blue — the same program that won just one Catholic League game the season before Roantree arrived — is suddenly at the head of the table.

“Our goal was to try to be one of those programs like Neumann and Roman and build a legacy,” senior Max Moshinski said. “We’re at the top of the mountain now. When we first got here, we knew it would be a tough climb but we knew if we showed up every day and put the work in, then we’d eventually get there. I think you can say we did that. We’re at the top of the mountain and now we need to stay here and keep getting back here.”

Father Judge was looking for a new head coach in the spring of 2021 when Reeves pushed Roantree, his teammate on the 1998 championship squad, to go for it.

They met with Judge’s president at Reeves’ home in the Far Northeast and Roantree detailed his plan at the dining room table. In four years, Judge would play at the Palestra in the Catholic League semifinals. In five years, they’d win a title. Both of those came true.

But not even Roantree could promise that Year 6 would bring a second-straight title for a program that was often an afterthought.

“We said we could do it, but to do it is different,” Reeves said. “To go back-to-back is just crazy. People go back-to-back, but to be where we were to where we are now is crazy. It’s unheard of.”

A 1998 Catholic League championship shirt hung behind the register for years at Marinucci’s on Brous Avenue, the deli owned by Reeves’ mother. It hung almost as proof that Judge did actually win a title before.

They had some moments since that 1998 championship, but it was hard to ever group Judge with teams like Roman and Neumann Goretti. The Crusaders were in a different tier. But the new coach believed.

“It’s the players, man,” Roantree said. “Everyone talks about coaches and what makes you a good coach. But at the end of the day it’s about Jimmys and Joes. Them buying into our culture. When we first got here, we talked about The Palestra and everyone thought we were crazy. The players thought we were crazy. But then it continued to build. Then guys came through, accepted the culture, and accepted being coached hard. We coach these guys hard and they buy in. It’s not easy.”

Winning back-to-back titles was not the plan when Roantree returned home from Lycoming College and started coaching at the rec center. But he quickly fell in love with coaching, realizing he can impact kids like Bill Fox did for him at Judge in the 1990s.

» READ MORE: Father Judge’s Derrick Morton-Rivera is chasing his dream just like his mother

He soon started coaching AAU and then joined Archbishop Wood’s staff as an assistant for eight seasons to John Mosco. He coached Collin Gillespie and helped navigate the underdog’s journey to Villanova. Roantree was back at Judge in June of 2021 with a five-year plan. But he still needed his Jimmys and Joes.

He swayed Derrick Morton-Rivera, the Temple-bound guard who lives in Mayfair but could have gone to Neumann Goretti like his dad. He spotted Moshinski at a St. Albert the Great CYO game and asked him to give Judge a chance. Rocco Westfield’s parents went to Archbishop Ryan and he can walk to that school from his home in Morrell Park. But Westfield went to Judge to play for Roantree, who seemed to attend all of his youth games.

“I really trusted them,” Westfield said. “Now, we’ve won back-to-back titles. Why not come to Judge?”

Judge’s win total increased in each of Roantree’s first five seasons before they broke through last year for their first title in 27 years. Their rise to the top of the league was not an overnight sensation — “A lot of roller-coaster rides,” Reeves said — but there’s no denying now that the school on Solly Avenue long known for soccer players is now a basketball power.

“There’s some guys who are waking up at 6:30 a.m. to get to school on time,” Roantree said. “They want to be a part of something special and I think we have something special. ... These dudes will live on forever and rely on these friendships for the rest of their lives.”

The gatherings started with just a few players as the teenagers needed a place to hang on Friday afternoons before they played a game that night. Soon, Margaret Westfield was cooking for the whole team.

“Chicken and rice,” her husband John said.

The players ate on Fridays in the Westfield’s’ kitchen and then sprawled out around the house for their pregame nap as the rowhouse became like a hostel.

“We have people on the couches, upstairs, downstairs,” John Westfield said.

The players who came to Judge to play for Roantree bonded over chicken and rice, coming together to become the unlikely kings of the Catholic League.

“It’s a special bond,” Rocco Westfield said. “We’re always with each other. I mean, I love these guys.”

This season wasn’t easy — Morton-Rivera was on crutches in the start of the season and they lost to Neumann Goretti earlier this month — but Judge was there on Sunday at a sold-out Palestra.

Their postseason included wins over Roman, Wood, and Neumann Goretti to capture the title. They won their second-straight title by knocking off the class of the Catholic League, leaving no doubt that they are for real.

“That class that Chris brought in was the turning point,” John Westfield said. “That was the turning point to put it on the map. There was a guy tonight who said something to me: ‘Thanks for sending your son to Judge and helping put Father Judge basketball back on the map.’ Just a random fan. That’s what it means to people.”

The net fell from the rim Sunday afternoon after Roantree trimmed the final threads. He waved it over his head as the student section — a few hundred crazies dressed in blue — roared.

The coach tossed the net to Morton-Rivera, who will likely be remembered as Judge’s all-time player. A second title was complete. And then the student section turned the page to next season, chanting “Three-peat.” That’s what happens when you become the king.

“We have a bunch of dudes who bought into one common goal,” Roantree said. “We always talk about team success drives individual success. We bought into that one goal. You look into everyone’s goal sheet at the beginning of the year and there was one goal on there for our team goal: Cut the nets down at the Palestra.”