KNIGHTLINE - Saint Mary's Catholic High School

Lady Knight Basketball Team
Stars On and Off the Court
Football Knights Beat Brophy
The 16-13 win ended a modest losing streak against our
neighbor to the north and was the highlight of a 4-7 season.
The Knight schedule was acknowledged as the toughest in
Arizona and included the ultimate winners of both the 5A-1
and 5A-2 playoff rounds. The Knights lost three games by
only a touchdown, including one in overtime. Below, Knights
and Broncos join in a postgame prayer.
Coach Curtis Ekmark and his Lady Knights are living up
to the pre-season hype (Nationally Ranked by both ESPN & USA
Today) by starting the season off 18 – 1. After an opening game
loss, the Lady Knights brought home the Consolation
Championship in the Nike Tournament of Champions
Tournament, winning three in a row over Bishop Gorman, the
defending Nevada State Champions, and two New York City
powerhouses, Mt. Lebanon and Christ the King. Then it was off
to Portland for the Nike Interstate Shootout where the Lady
Knights were crowned Tournament Champions in convincing
fashion.
Not only do the Lady Knights dominate on the
hardwood but they also excel in the classroom as the team
received an AIA Team Academic Award and featured nine AIA
Individual Academic Award Winners last season. Nine players on
the team have already received Division I scholarship offers from
a variety of schools including Notre Dame, Stanford, Duke, Utah,
Arizona State, Marquette, and many more. Keep up with the Lady
Knights as they celebrate 30 years of excellence.
www.smknightsbasketball.com or
www.facebook.com/saintmarysknights.
Saint Mary’s Athletics In Transition
The AIA has reconfigured high school categories and
future Knight schedules will see some changes. Saint Mary’s
remains in 5A, the largest-school category, but within a section
that will see new opponents in future years. Scheduling will be by
computer with distance between schools a major factor. In
football, for example, our future opponents will primarily be from
among the following (enrollments in parenthesis): Alhambra
High School (2690), Carl Hayden Community High School
(2255), Central High School (2301), Cibola High School (2515),
Kofa High School (2263), Maryvale High School (2581), North
High School (2416) San Luis High School (2616), Tolleson
Union High School (2195), Trevor G. Browne High School
(2808), Valley Vista High School (2286), and Westview High
School (2514).
In January Coach Eddy Zubey announced his resignation
as football coach to take a coaching job at Higley High School.
The search for a new coach is ongoing.
New Student-Athlete Awards Announced
The Athletic Department now honors one boy and one
girl as student-athletes of the month voted upon from all the head
coaches for this recognition. Student-athletes must display
character on and off the field/floor as well as in the classroom,
and be leaders spiritually, academically and in their perspective
sport. Their names will be engraved on a beautiful plaque that
will rotate throughout the school buildings for one month.
Recipients are seniors Erika Varela and Patrick Barefield,
volleyball and football; seniors Chanel Abril and Brady Laughlin,
swim team; senior Natalie Murphy and junior Johnny Cruz from
volleyball and football; and freshman Emily Rose McShane and
senior Chris Mason from soccer and basketball.