This year’s Seminarian Hoops Challenge Jan. 3 was an intense
struggle for the win between diocesan seminarians and the
Vocations Office’s high school team, Quo Vadis. The scores
were neck and neck until the final buzzer with both teams
pulling off some great plays.Father Bjorn C. Lundberg, Saint
John Paul the Great Catholic High School chaplain, said, “It
is nice to see the seminarians working as a team since they
will be working as a team in the priesthood, and it was also
good to see them bring their different talents to the
game.”The seminarians muscled their way to a narrow lead in
the final seconds of the fourth quarter only to have Quo
Vadis score a 3-pointer and tie them before the final buzzer.
With only three seconds on the clock, the seminarians’ coach
Joe Townsend called a timeout to draw out their final play.
At the whistle, seminarian Nicholas Blank hurled the ball
from beyond half court to his teammate under the basket, only
to have it slip through the receiver’s fingers. In an instant
the ball was scooped up by seminarian John Paul Heisler who
banked it against the backboard for a 2-point lead as the
final buzzer rang. The cheers from family and friends in the
stands soon drowned out the sound of the buzzer as both teams
congratulated each other on what Father Brian G. Bashista,
chaplain at Marymount University and former director of
vocations, called the “best ending to a Quo Vadis seminarian
game” in the history of the challenge. The final score was
54-52.
Father Joel D. Jaffe, director of vocations, announced that
pizza would be served for all the players and their fans,
making the event a win-win for both sides. “This game is
important for the seminarians because it builds fellowship
between us and also helps us connect with the Quo Vadis group
so we can get to know them and help them if we can,” said
Sean Koehr, a seminarian at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in
Emmitsburg.Heisler, who scored the winning basket, recalled
being very active in the Quo Vadis group before entering the
seminary. After playing for the Quo Vadis team in the Hoops
Challenge for three years, this was his first year playing on
the seminarian side. “On the court today I remembered how
Father Jaffe had mentioned to me after one of the games that
I could be playing on the seminarian side soon. I didn’t
realize I would be on this side so soon,” he said. “Being
around seminarians as peers is very helpful in the
discernment process and is one of the things that make this
event great for young men discerning the priesthood.”
Buyers can be reached at [email protected].
Photos from the game can be purchased here.
