Last March, Bishop Fenwick coach Adam DeBaggis found an additional, unintended perk of being a father of two small children: He had an excuse to tune out the MIAA postseason.
DeBaggis didn’t watch a single playoff game. Neither did Celia Neilson. Caitlin Boyle paid attention occasionally when her friends played, and she watched Medfield defeat Worcester South in the Division 2 championship. It wasn’t easy.
“You obviously respect the good basketball that was going on, but it was definitely hard, knowing that we had beaten (Medfield) twice, and that if we were allowed in the playoffs, we probably would have been there,” Boyle said.
The headline-grabber of the 2023-24 MIAA season was Bishop Fenwick’s school-wide ban from state playoffs. In July 2023, the MIAA handed out its most significant punishment ever as a result of multiple athlete eligibility violations on Bishop Fenwick’s baseball team. The ban dealt the toughest blow to the girls basketball team. The Crusaders had one of their best rosters in recent years and were the favorites to win their second state championship.
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