FIRE DESTROYS HOLY TRINITY’S EQUIPMENT
Team accepts donations ahead of Saturday playoff game
SCHENECTADY » An arson investigation is ongoing involving a fire that burned the entirety of uniforms and equipment for the Holy Trinity football team.
At around 2:15 a.m. Friday morning, authorities responded to a fire at the field house located behind Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School. Inside the building were each players’ uniforms, cleats, helmets and the team’s locker room.
The blaze happened about 36 hours before the Pride’s first playoff game in program history, a 1:30 p.m. meeting with No. 2-seeded Hoosic Valley on Saturday in Schaghticoke. The Pride finished 5-2 in the regular season, including handing Class C’s top-seed Voorheesville, its only loss this season.
Throughout the day on Friday, the team, as well as school officials, accepted donations from all over to be able to get equipment and uniforms necessary for the team to play on Saturday.
University at Albany head football coach Greg Gattuso asked for, and was granted, a waiver to allow the Great Danes to donate
uniforms for the Pride to play in. Holy Trinity will be wearing slightly different shades of purple and gold as they’ll don UAlbany’s white uniforms.
“Football is such an important part of our community, and to see the devastation that this fire has caused, we wanted to find a way to help,” said Gattuso in a statement. “We are asking each high school from across the region to donate a full uniform to help kids at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons get back on the football field for (Saturday)’s game.”
The incident started to get national attention as ESPN’s Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) quoted a tweet from WTEN’s Ayla Ferrone and responded with his own tweet saying, “The NCAA will likely allow this, eventually. The problem is, you have to ask (the NCAA), jump through hoops. Silly.”