Our Notre Dame Seminary “Hunchbacks” faced off in the annual basketball game against St. Joseph Seminary College (“St. Ben’s”) on Saturday, February 19 at Archbishop Rummel High School. After a slow start from both teams, St. Ben’s pulled ahead with three-point sharpshooting led by Jacob Zimmerer (Fort Worth) and stayed ahead the entire game. NDS made some key runs behind the efforts of Chris Fagin (Memphis), Kevin Seay (New Orleans), and Edwin Mireles (Tyler), shrinking a once 14-point lead to only 5 points late in the fourth quarter. The lead proved too much, though, as strong performance by St. Ben’s Jeremy Chiasson (Baton Rouge) and Jorel De Guzman (St. Petersburg) sealed the victory for the St. Ben’s Ravens, 57-45. St. Ben’s was coached by Gaten Armstrong (Mobile), Bryant Huggins (Fort Worth), and Simon Nguyen (Atlanta), and Notre Dame was coached by Ryan Thibodaux (Houma-Thibodaux). Seminarians from both NDS and St. Ben’s attended the game, along with priests, family, and friends.
Fr. Andrew Gutierrez, chaplain of Rummel and alumnus of both St. Ben’s and Notre Dame, helped prepare the facilities for the game and attended the game. Fr. James Wehner, rector of Notre Dame, led the opening prayer and Fr. Jeffrey Montz, Spiritual Director of Notre Dame, led the concluding prayer before the trophy was presented to St. Ben’s. As the trophy stays on the campus of the winning team, it will remain at St. Ben’s until next year’s matchup.
Following the game, seminarians from both seminaries traveled to Notre Dame for Vespers and a poolside dinner and social. The day was a witness to competition, brotherhood, and vocations to the priesthood.
-Chris Fagin, Diocese of Memphis
