The young Padres squad was too much for the Knights of Columbus Council 4118 Blue Knights Sunday evening, Jan. 27. They defeated the Knights 72-48 during the 31st Annual Basketball Classic for Vocations at Bishop Carroll Catholic High School.
The Padres jumped up to a quick lead from the tip-off and never looked back. The Padres had a young recruiting class due to the wonderful number of priestly ordinations over the last couple of years – and they came to play.
Father Andrew Labenz led all scorers with 24 points. He was assisted by Fr. Kyle Dugan with 10 points, Fathers Sam Brand and Drew Hoffman with 6 each, Fathers Garett Burns, Michael Kerschen, and Matt Davied with 5 each, Fr. Ben Green with 4, and Fathers Devin Burns and Nic Jurgensmeyer with 3 each. Also playing for the Padres was Fr. Ed Herzog.
The Blue Knights were led in scoring by Lawrence Barles with 10 points followed by Mark Powell and Adam Zimmerman with 8 each, Dave Damm and Long Pham with 5 each, Bryant Nold and Kevin Damm with 4 each, and Mike Frost and Ben Patterson with 2 each. Also playing were Curtis Lubbers, Dennis Munk, and Seth Rundell.
Supporting the atmosphere of the game for the great crowd were the Presentation of Colors by members of the Columbia Assembly of the 4th Degree, the Bishop Carroll High School Pep Band and Cheerleaders. Fr. Sam Brand offered brief comments at half time thanking the Knights of Columbus for their support of religious vocations and those in attendance for coming to support the event.
The event sponsors were Catholic Family Federal Credit Union, Damm Music Center, Damm Pharmacies, Eck & Eck Machine, Leon Keiter-Attorney at Law, and Prichard Animal Hospital and a number of personal donors that provided financial support.