14U FINAL FOUR TOURNAMENT

GIRARD will open vs Pontiff in the first game on Monday in a Valentine's Day affair in the Delta Gym @ 7pm.  

NORTH DIVISION TOURNAMENT NEWS

The VIKINGS opened up First Round play vs Little Farms @ Delta on Monday, 7 FEB 2011 with a resounding 58-24 victory.  The win earned the Vikings a bye to the North Division Championship game on Wednesday night vs Lemon, and in a hard fought contest, the Vikings prevailed by a score of 39-38 and advanced to the Final Four. 

VIKINGS' PRESEASON GAMES: 

 The Girard 14U Allstars began preseason 2011 allstar play with convincing wins @ Bright's Ray Berni Court vs Pontiff and Bright on Saturday evening, 22 Jan.  Play continued @ Cleary Gym on Sunday with another win vs Pontiff, and a last minute loss to Cleary.  The next weekend, preseason play concluded with a 3 game series at Lakeshore Gym, with the Vikings winning all three vs Pontiff, Miley and host Lakeshore.  With a 6-1 preseason record under their belt, the Viking 14U team enters Sub-District play.

Six players represented Girard on the JPRD-East 14 year old baseball allstar team.  The JPRD-East Bulldogs played an intense summer schedule, and repeated as the 2010 Dizzy Dean World Series Champions in Southaven, MS over Lufkin, Texas.

Congratulations to the Vikings who represented Girard: (+ High School)

• Stewart Campbell  (St Martin's)
• Gregory Deichmann  (Brother Martin)
• Connor McWilliams  (Rummel)
• Cody Morris  (Curtis)
• Kaleb Roper  (Rummel)  *Tournament MVP*
  
• Stephen Sigle  (Jesuit)

Campbell, Deichmann, McWilliams, Roper and Sigle also played on last year's JPRD-East 13's team which also won the World Series Championship.

 The GIRARD VIKINGS 15U Dizzy Dean Allstars won the 2010 JPRD-East Championship over the Miley Cardinals at Mike Miley Stadium  

"Top seed Matt Calcote of Rummel opened the finals by pinning No. 2 Robbie Muller of Jesuit in four minutes, 51 seconds at 103 pounds. Top seed Jay Ferro of Jesuit then won a second consecutive state title with a 7-1 decision against No. 2 Dakota Boesch of Rummel at 112"  (nola.com)

While Girard doesn't offer Wrestling, these former baseballers took their talents to the mat for their high schools, and have excelled at the state level.  Congratulations to Jay and Matt!

On August 29, 2005,  Hurricane Katrina slammed into the New Orleans-Gulf Coast area, with devastating results.  The Girard community was also severely affected.

Our athletic fields and gymnasium were covered by several feet of water during the storm.  The gym roof also sustained severe damage and the entire basketball season was held at John Quincy Adams Middle School for the 2005-2006 season. 

We lost many of our shade trees in the spectator areas, along with several light standards for the baseball/football fields, and several baseball fences were blown down.  The concession stands were a complete loss, with all equipment and inventory destroyed. 

However, the biggest loss was to our families' homes.  Many of our families live in the area closest to Lake Pontchartrain, and suffered roof damage and flooding from the storm.  For months after Katrina, many families took up temporary residence in other towns and states all over the country.  For a while, things looked very, very bleak....

....then late in October 2005, the recreation district playgrounds pooled their players and began playing football games again.  Then came basketball at the middle schools, and in the spring of 2006, Girard came back fully back to life with the Soccer and Track season.  Many of our children and coaches were still living in FEMA trailers while their homes were being rebuilt, and our park provided them with the activities and normalcy they needed so badly.

It has been a long, hard road back for our community and our park, and it all culminated in some recent big events:  our 2007 Dixie Youth (12YO) Baseball Team went to Virginia and ended up being the World Series runner-ups, and one of our former players, LSU Safety Craig Steltz, became our most decorated alumni ever, winning the 2008 BCS National Football Championship, earning First Team All American honors, and being drafted by the NFL Chicago Bears.  Ironically, the other Girard alumnus to participate on a BCS National Championship football team was Craig's older brother Kevin Steltz, who was the fullback for LSU in the 2003 title game.

Now, most of our families have returned and are back in their homes.  The park looks good again, and the kids are back in droves.  However, this did not happen out of the blue.  It took a lot of hard work by everyone:  our local dedicated playground staff, the Girard Boosters, and finally our parents (and coaches).   Without their help, the return of Girard would not be possible.

Watch for your Girard Vikings in the National News!