Three Catholic high schools are among the 12 teams that will compete for the 2023 Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship. The tournament gets under way with first-round play Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.
Archmere is the highest-seeded Catholic school at No. 3. They are one of four teams to receive a bye into the quarterfinals. The Auks finished the regular season 14-1, with their lone loss coming to No. 2 Tatnall. Archmere will play on May 20 at 11 a.m. at home against the winner of No. 11 Sanford and No. 6 Tower Hill. They defeated Tower Hill early in the season; Archmere and Sanford did not meet.
The fifth seed is Ursuline, which wrapped up the regular season at 9-4-1. The Raiders are at Serviam Field on Tuesday at 4 p.m. against the 12th seed, Newark Charter. This will be a rematch of the Raiders’ season opener, a 12-11 win over the Patriots in Newark. The winner will travel to No. 4 Sussex Academy on May 20 at noon. The Seahawks own a regular-season win over Ursuline.
Saint Mark’s earned the ninth seed with a record of 10-4, including a big comeback win at St. Andrew’s on May 13 in the regular-season finale. The Spartans will open play on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Wilmington Charter, the No. 8 seed. The Force defeated the Spartans on May 4. The winner of this game travels to Lewes to play top-seeded Cape Henlopen. The Vikings have won 13 straight state championships and have not lost to a Delaware opponent since 2009.
The semifinals are scheduled for May 23 and the final May 25 at Delaware State University in Dover, with times to be announced. Tickets for all tournament games are sold online only at https://gofan.co/app/school/DIAA.
