East Catholic finishes as unanimous No. 1

Luke Reilly remembers as a kid looking at a poster that featured his father Joe’s 1977 South Catholic varsity team that finished 25-1, concluding with a Class L state championship victory over Harding.

“I thought, ‘Man, how could you ever have a team with that kind of record?’” Luke Reilly thought at the time.

Reilly had won a pair of state championships and been in two other state finals during his tenure at East Catholic. And last year’s team actually finished at 25-1, but lost its only game in the Division I state quarterfinals at the buzzer in double overtime.

But there was no denying East Catholic this season. The Eagles finished 27-1, won the Division I title over Windsor Saturday night and finished No. 1 in the final Register/GameTimeCT Top 10 poll on Tuesday.

“To me at 27-1, the No. 1 team in the state of Connecticut, that’s as good as you can get,” Reilly said. “And it couldn’t happen to a more worthy group. I am humbled by that and super proud.”

East Catholic received all 20 first-place votes from the state media representatives and finished with 600 points.

Windsor, the only team to defeat East Catholic this season in the CCC tournament final, finished second with 542 points, followed by Division II state champion Waterford (524), Sacred Heart (424) and Bassick (386), both teams losing in the Division I quarterfinals.

East Catholic was No. 2 in the poll for most of the season behind Sacred Heart. It gained on the Hearts as the season went on, but fell to third heading into the CIAC state tournament after the loss to Windsor.