Athletics
Holy Cross School fields teams and competitors in many sports. The school currently offers soccer, karate, football, basketball, tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, swimming, wrestling, power lifting, track and field, and cross country. Holy Cross currently competes in Class 4A of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.
Holy Cross football vs. Jesuit football is the oldest continuous high school rivalry in Louisiana and one of the oldest continuous high school football rivalries in the United States. The first game was played in 1922 (which Jesuit won 52-0). The two teams have played every year since, including twice in 1963 (once in regular season and again for the state crown, which Holy Cross won). Jesuit won the 2011 meeting 37-0.
The Tigers have also had a long rivalry with Chalmette High School, owing to Holy Cross' former location in the Lower 9th Ward and its large student population from neighboring St. Bernard Parish. Chalmette and Holy Cross were rivals in the New Orleans Catholic League from 1968 through 1988.
Holy Cross was the first school in the New Orleans area to field a football team post-Katrina in late September of the 2005 football season. The team played a shortened schedule and won four of seven games, including a playoff match. Holy Cross defeated archrival Jesuit during this season in the 87th meeting of the storied rivalry.
The Tigers were the 1939 state basketball champions. They again made the championship game in 1974 but lost to Brother Martin.
Holy Cross is also known for its wrestling program, and has won the Louisiana state championship in this sport 25 times. They have also had a total of 207 individual state champions and 192 state runner-up finishes. Twenty-two of those titles were won during the 24-year period of 1945 to 1968; 1951 and 1966 were the only years in this period when the state championship was not won by the Tigers. The latest championship was won in 2009. These teams were coached by Brother Melchior Polowy who is largely considered the founder of High School Wrestling in Louisiana.
The 2009-2010 school year also brought great success to the Tigers in many areas, as the Tigers won state championships in swimming and cross country.
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