The Paul VI Panthers, coached by Levi Franklin (second season), turned in their finest season in school history. The "Black and Gold" made their first ever appearance in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) title game, losing to Gonzaga 58-46. The championship game was played March 3 at American University.

PVI led 8-7 following a layup by senior point guard Terron Diggs. Minutes later however, the Eagles, coached by Dick Myers, led 12-8 to conclude the first quarter.

Gonzaga, which tied for first place during the regular season with Paul VI and Bishop O'Connell with 13-3 league records, never surrendered its lead throughout the remainder of the contest.

The Eagles led 28-14 and 40-20 after the second and third quarters respectively.

"We just didn't push the ball like we're capable of and like we normally do," said PVI’s Diggs.

"They didn't do anything we weren't expecting, we just didn't do things the way we were capable of doing," said junior forward Darryl Proctor.

Senior Panther captain/shooting guard Steve Proctor knocked down a three pointer to pull the Panthers within eight with 1:45 remaining. Moments later, Panther junior guard David Sanders converted a jumper to narrow the deficit to 54-46 with 43 seconds remaining. Paul VI would get no closer.

Gonzaga scored the final four points of the contest to "seal the deal."

"We simply got away from what we did so well during the season. When we struck with just under two minutes to go, there just wasn't enough time left to pull the game out," said PVI senior center Joe Cascio.

Even though PVI outscored Gonzaga 26-18 in the final stanza, the Panthers only generated a combined 20 points throughout the first three quarters to essentially seal their fate.

"We didn't want the season to end this early. We were trying to keep things alive for the seniors. It just didn't work out," said junior guard Ryan Williams.

"Our guys played hard. They did just about everything I asked of them," said Franklin. "We just didn't hit our shots for the most part. Their players shot the ball very well. They got good looks. It didn't help that the snow postponed the tournament nearly two weeks."

"We finished with the best record (22-7) in school history," said Nick Grant, who will play next season at Drake (Iowa).

"The program is building. We're going to try to reload for next season," said Franklin.

In the semi-finals March 2, PVI defeated nemesis DeMatha 42-40 in a game of high drama.

The Stags, then coached by Morgan Wootten, knocked PVI out of the semi-finals in 2001 when the Panthers were coached by Paul "Red" Jenkins.

The Stags also knocked PVI out of the semi-finals in 2002 during Franklin's first season at the helm and in Wootten's final season at DeMatha.

This year was a different story however. Wootten retired and Mike Jones was in as DeMatha’s head coach.

Even though the Stags led 18-14 after quarter one, the Panthers stormed back and took a 29-21 lead into intermission. Paul VI led 33-31 after the third quarter and then things got interesting.

DeMatha's Germaine Green tied the contest 35-35. Following two PVI buckets by Steve Proctor, DeMatha once more tied the contest 40-40 on a long jumper by Joseph Hunter.

With a title game appearance in the balance, DeMatha missed a free throw and Panther senior post Joe Cascio rebounded the miss with 26 seconds remaining.

After running the clock down to eight seconds, PVI called timeout. "Black and Gold" standout forward Nick Grant inbounded the ball to Diggs. The athletic senior point guard took a couple of dribbles to he top of the lane and buried an acrobatic seven foot jumper, which proved to be the game winner.

DeMatha missed a 40 foot shot at the buzzer and PVI’s title appearance was secure.

In quarterfinal action March 1, PVI escaped with a 32-31 victory against sixth-seeded Good Counsel. The Panthers trailed 17-14 at halftime, before clawing back and outscoring the Falcons 18-14 in the second half to prevail.

The Bishop O'Connell Knights, coached by Joe Wootten, lost to DeMatha 58-47 in the quarterfinals this season.

DeMatha led 18-14 at intermission and outscored O'Connell 40-33 over the final 16 minutes to prevail. Pacing the Knights offensively were sophomores Marcus Ginyard and Dave Neal (11 and 10 points respectively).

Bishop Ireton dropped a 67-34 decision to Gonzaga in the first round of the tournament. The Cardinals, coached by Pete Hamer, got off to a slow start and trailed the Eagles 37-14 at halftime.

The "Purple and White" outscored the "Cardinal and Gold" 30-20 over the games final 16 minutes.

PVI Girls Win State Title

The Paul VI varsity girls team knocked off Bishop O'Connell62-50 in the Virginia

Independent Schools State Championship Final March 2 to claim its seventh state title in the past eight years.

In the semi-finals March 1, PVI defeated St. Gertrude’s 70-53, and O'Connell defeated Ireton 59-49.