Always a Blue Wolf: Immaculate Conception players fight on despite shock of school closing
Immaculate Conception’s dugout was alive with the usual cheers of opening day.
Players encouraged each other with every base hit. They chanted and whistled. Fans screamed when a grounder cruised past second base, and when a ball soared unscathed into the outfield, earning the Blue Wolves a run against their opponent, the North Arlington Vikings.
It only took five innings for Immaculate Conception to secure its 13-0 win on Tuesday, a strong start to the new year. But this game wasn’t just the start of a season — it was also the start of the program’s final chapter.
Days earlier, Immaculate Conception High School announced it would close on June 30, after 107 years. The news blindsided members of the school community, who are now forced to consider a future without their beloved school. For the student-athletes, it means one final spring season to leave their marks in North Jersey sports as a Blue Wolf.
“We're really just looking to still do what we set out to do this year," said Dale Fava, the Lodi school’s athletic director. "Hopefully our teams can really come out on top — and, obviously, they're probably more motivated than ever hearing that their school's closing.”
Immaculate Conception has been known for its strong sports teams. The all-girls Catholic school enrolls an estimated 136 students, Fava said, with 90 to 100 of them on sports teams. The school has a rich legacy in North Jersey high school sports, with several teams winning championship titles.
The school’s softball team won the NJSIAA Non-Public B Group championship seven years in a row from 2013 through 2019, and its basketball team has also won sectional titles. Volleyball and tennis won recent league championships. In 2019, track earned eight medals at the NJSIAA group championships.
In March, senior Jenna Filieri became Bergen County’s first two-time state champion in girls wrestling.
The list goes on.
The school’s sports programs were also growing, Fava said. The school’s flag football team rostered 21 girls in its first year alone — making it one of the largest programs at the school to date.
“We're all a little bit blindsided by it,” Fava said, of the school’s closure. “We were doing everything that we could. We're boosting enrollment. Our numbers have been growing. We're winning championships — but not at the pace that we need to, right?
"I would like to see less schools closing and more opening, but you don't see more opening for a reason,” Fava said.
Helping students find next opportunity
The reaction to the school’s imminent closure has been swift.
Athletic directors from nearby schools have reached out to Fava offering their help. The school has talked about organizing a fair for students and staff to see what other options are out there, Fava said. The priority for the next three months will be to prepare students for what’s next.
“I’ll meet with every single student-athlete in that building, from now until June 30, to see what their goals are and what their views are, and exactly what they want to do, to make sure that they find the right fit,” Fava said.
No matter where they end up, he added, the connections that students have to Immaculate Conception will remain.
“The legacy will always move on, whether we don't have a building, or we don't have a school anymore,” Fava said. “That legacy of the memories and those state championships won, and those relationships are basically what it's about.
"In the end, you win your trophy for winning state championships, right, and they sit in the school — but everybody remembers those moments,” he said.
For now, the school’s tightknit community is choosing to focus on what it can control, like the spring sports seasons just starting.
Alums coaching softball team
The school’s softball team is coached by two former alums, head coach Sarah Piening and assistant coach Andrea Lupica. On Tuesday after their win against the Vikings, they said that despite the alma mater's imminent closure, their goals this season remain the same.
“We're just going to finish out the season and finish it on a high note,” Piening said. “None of our hard work is going to stop now. Our goals have not changed, and they will remain the same throughout the entire season. So, we're staying positive and just putting our heads down and working hard.”
The team “has never been closer,” Lupica added.
That was evident on the diamond. Players did not let up during the game. They encouraged one another through each inning. At the bottom of the fifth, they chanted: “1-2-3, FINISH” before securing their first win of the season for the last time.
“Our goals are just to finish strong and continue the legacy,” Lupica said. “The legacy will always live on. So, I just feel like we're just adding to it — and the school ending can't stop the legacy.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Immaculate Conception players fight on despite school's closing
