The Curtis-McKee/Staten Island Tech rivalry ushered in a new chapter – possibly it’s most interesting and fierce.
Wednesday night marked the first time legendary St. Peter’s coach Bob Daggett stood on the Curtis sideline in his signature sweater – this time maroon with an embroidered C – and signature towel draped over his shoulder faced the Seagulls. A few of Daggett’s former St. Peter’s players followed him to Curtis and it immediately revved up expectations that the Warriors would unseat the Seagulls as the dominant team in PSAL Staten Island A. MSIT has won six of the last seven titles with Curtis finishing first in 2009.
Daggett is no stranger to division crowns – winning 16 straight in CHSAA Staten Island with the Eagles until the school closed last year – and rivalries. His last year with St. Peter’s saw his team and Moore Catholic play in front of packed gyms four times, splitting the meetings.
This time his role is different.
St. Peter’s was the established power with superior talent that Island opponents wanted to knock from their perch. A win against them was a memorable event for most players. There was an aura of invincibility and much of that had to do with Daggett, considered one of the best coaches in the city.
Now he is trying to rebuild a Curtis program that lost a bunch of seniors that fell in the PSAL Class A title game. His team is still growing comfortable with his system. He is chasing MSIT, not the other way around.
Curtis wants to take the division title and the lone spot in the PSAL Class AA playoffs. (The fact that both can’t make it is still a travesty as far as I’m concerned.) Many predicted Curtis will be making a trip to the Madison Square Garden and the ‘AA’ title game in the coming years.
His addition to the Warriors staff also came somewhat unceremoniously in some people’s minds. Former Curtis assistant coach John Curatolo left and is now an assistant at MSIT. Many of his family, friends and formers players were in attendance rooting for a Seagulls win. I don’t believe Daggett can ever be considered a villain, but he is certainly the antagonist here.
Despite a large crowd to watch host MSIT rally for a 47-42 win, this rivalry is not at that level of St. Peter’s-Moore just yet. There was a special allure to St. Peter’s which dominated for nearly three decades and rarely lost to Island opponents. MSIT’s surge has been more recent. Daggett’s move to Curtis doesn’t bring the Eagles history along with him, though it did put many of the school’s former players in the stands Wednesday
This budding rivalry couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. There needs to be a dominant team in any good rivalry and MSIT reaffirmed that by rallying from a 14-point third-quarter deficit to defeat the Warriors in gut-wrenching fashion. It has the best player on the floor in Kaitlyn Astel and a coach in Peter LaMarca, who proved he could win the strategy game with Daggett. A Curtis win would have just made this look too easy.
Curtis proved it is capable of beating MSIT. Now it will try to even the score and possibly earn a share of the crown when it meets Tech on Feb. 6 at Curtis. If there is a tie atop the division, both teams go ‘AA.’
The Seagulls have a chance there to squash all the Warriors preseason hype and attention that bugged them until next season.
But the next chapter of this rivalry is just getting started.