By Dan McWilliams
Rain plagued the Knights Cup Lacrosse Tournament at Knoxville Catholic High School for the second straight year but didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the event’s donors.
The second annual tourney took place April 21 and 22 at KCHS’s Blaine Stadium and featured the semifinals and finals of the Appalachian Athletic Conference college lacrosse tournament. Proceeds benefited Knights of Columbus charities, including Catholic Charities of East Tennessee’s Pregnancy Help Center.
Rain washed out two high school games, between host KCHS and Soddy-Daisy and between Christian Academy of Knoxville and the Roane County Knights.
“Despite the storms that affected the entire weekend, we had a highly successful Knights Cup Lacrosse Tournament,” said organizer Tom Ciaccia. “The Appalachian Athletic Conference put on three exciting games. Reinhardt, who won the conference championship, went on to win the NAIA national championship the following weekend.
“CAK won a highly competitive middle school tournament. The storms caused the cancellation of the two high school games. However, we were able to send Catholic Charities $10,000 from the event’s proceeds that will support the wide range of family services provided through the Pregnancy Services Division.
“This was the most successful of the 14 athletic events the Knights from Sacred Heart and All Saints have sponsored to support the critical work of this component of the Catholic Charities mission.”
Mr. Ciaccia said that “we’ve already started talking about our 2018 event.”
“Special thanks go to Knoxville Catholic High School for making Blaine Stadium available for this event,” he said, “and to [Pregnancy Services Program leader] Sandi Davidson and her staff for giving us an extraordinary outreach service all Knights can get behind with great enthusiasm.”
