The St Francis Crusaders have been playing under their captain John Mitchell since the mid-seventies when John took over from our League President Tom Flagler. Tom decided to step away from one of the leagues most solid franchises and John stepped up to the plate and lead this team to a streak of over 30 consecutive trips to the playoffs that only ended a couple of years ago. To their credit the Crusaders jumped right back into playoff mix and have started another new streak. The St Francis Crusaders last league championship was celebrated in the 1993-94 season. No doubt that more championships are in the future of this perenial playoff contender.
John Mitchell and Mike Pacella have the longest current consecutive tenure on this very proud franchise joining the squad in the same season. Veterans Butch Coleman came to the Crusaders from the legendary former powrhouse the New Windsor Knights to be the most famous triple shooter in recent memory. Pat Berardinelli Sr. played on a father/son team at Meadow Hill School before becoming a Crusader. Pat was one of the most recent inductees to the Hall Of Fame joing Mitchell, Pacella and Coleman.
After Flagler relinquished the reigns to Mitchell, he later returned to the team. However, he formed his own unit, the Flames that gave St Francis two of the best teams in the entire program.
The teams in recent years moved from the St Francis School across the street to the church and it offers one of the coziest Dartball locations in the league.