The Catholic Central League (CCL) is expanding with the addition of two new schools for the 2020-2021 year, Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro and Bishop Stang High School in Dartmouth.
“I think the league expansion is a great thing for the CCL,” said Bishop Fenwick Athletic Director and head football coach, Dave Woods. “Bringing in two more strong, co-ed Catholic schools with very similar athletic programs and similar academic philosophies will only make our entire league more attractive for prospective student athletes.
“The addition of Bishop Stang and Bishop Feehan makes the CCL the premier co-ed Catholic League in the state. Both of these schools have a very rich history of athletic excellence and are a perfect fit for our league.”
Woods said the CCL has been a longtime leader in educational athletics, promoting exemplary sportsmanship, healthy competition, athletic excellence and scholarly achievement and that the league is rich in shared values and traditional rivalries.
With the addition of Bishop Feehan and Bishop Stang, the CCL will have 12 schools that extend from the North Shore to the South Shore and southeastern Massachusetts. In the past five years alone, CCL schools have combined to win more than 20 state championships across a variety of sports. The league has also seen many of its top student-athletes go on to excel in all divisions at the collegiate level.
While each CCL school has its own unique strengths, programs, culture and emphasis, all of them share a common mission and commitment to co-ed Catholic education.
For most sports, the CCL will be divided into three divisions based upon several factors, including geography. Stang, Feehan, Archbishop Williams (Braintree) and Cardinal Spellman (Brockton) will compete in the South division, while Arlington Catholic (Arlington), Austin Preparatory School (Reading), Bishop Fenwick (Peabody) and St. Mary’s (Lynn) will compete in the North division. Cathedral (Boston), Cristo Rey (Boston), Matignon (Cambridge) and St. Joseph Prep (Boston) will compete in the Small division.
Woods said the league’s athletic directors are already working on details and logistics for the fall 2020 season and beyond to allow for north-south alignment, large and small school scheduling, as well as working to establish a complete system that best serves the needs of the schools and their student-athletes.
“The athletic directors are working on fall schedules now, with the league football schedule already complete, and we expect to finish all other league schedules within a week or two,” Woods said. “I think it’s a very exciting time for the CCL.”
Woods added it is hoped that, as the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) continues its push toward power rankings for all sports, the new composition of the CCL will enhance each school’s ability to secure the highest possible tournament bids and seeds.
Stang and Feehan are no strangers to the CCL, having competed against many CCL teams in recent years.
“We don’t have a lot of experience with Bishop Stang, but we have been playing Bishop Feehan in more and more sports each year,” said Woods. “This year alone we have already played them in girls soccer, field hockey, boys hockey and girls basketball. Also Cardinal Spellman and Archbishop Williams have been playing both Feehan and Stang in multiple sports for years, so the two schools are not totally unfamiliar to our league.”
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].