Fairfield Holiday Hoops

A look at the court during a break in the action of the girls game 

The Fairfield Holiday Basketball Tournaments got underway today, with the conclusions tomorrow. 

The boys have a varsity tournament, as well as a JV tournament. This tournament features the four high schools from Fairfield, Ludlowe, Warde, Fairfield Prep and Notre Dame of Fairfield. The varsity boys tournament was held at Fairfield Warde this year, as the usual home, Alumni Hall was knocked down and is being re-built. The JV tournament rotates between being hosted by Ludlowe and Warde and this year it was at Ludlowe. 

The boys JV tournament is named the Walter Fitzgerald Holiday Tournament in honor the of former Fairfield High School assistant coach and Warde head coach, who passed away from cancer in 2010. 

In the JV tournament, Warde toped Notre Dame and Prep topped Ludlowe, so Notre Dame and Ludlowe play in the consolation game, while Warde and Prep play for the championship. 

Notre Dame withdrew from the varsity tournament due to COVID, so Warde, who ND was supposed to play in the first round, got an automatic bye to the championship on Tuesday at 6pm at Warde. Ludlowe and Prep played Monday night to see who would face Warde. 

The Jesuits came away with a 49-30 victory. The game was closer than the score as Prep was able to pull away in the fourth. 

The girls also play a varsity holiday tournament. Their tournament features Ludlowe, Warde, Staples of Westport and St. Paul Catholic of Bristol. That tournament also rotates between being hosted at Ludlowe and Warde, with this years edition being at Warde. 

Their tournament is the Todd Burger Holiday Tournament, named in honor of former Fairfield Citizen Sport editor, Todd Burger, who passed away from cancer in 2006. 

Like Notre Dame for the boys, St. Paul Catholic had to back out of the girls tournament due to COVID.

 That meant Warde, just like the boys, who they were supposed to play, got an automatic bid to the championship. They would meet the winner of Ludlowe and Staples. The Falcons came away with a 56-39 win to set up an all-Fairfield championship matchup on Tuesday at 2pm at Warde. 

The tournaments, while different this year due to COVID, are always an awesome events for the teams and the community, no matter the outcome. It brings students out (shoutout to The Nest), as well as Alumni, parents, and just random town people. Day two will be different with fewer games, but hopefully the games we do have are great.