St. John’s Country Day Ends Title Defense In 1A State Final

Facing off against the defending state champions, the Canterbury Cougars completed their magical season with a resounding 6-2 victory in the Class 1A title game. Canterbury led all the way for the victory over the St. John’s Country Day Spartans, on Thursday, May 15th, at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. It is the fourth state championship in program history, after a historic three-year title run from 2016 to 2018, all under Manager Frank Turco.

The Cougars (26-11) thrived in the 2025 regional playoffs, sweeping the quarterfinals before winning the pivotal third games of the best-of-three series against Northside Christian and St. John Neumann. Back at the state tournament for the first time since falling in the 2019 final, Canterbury held off the Orangewood Christian Rams with a narrow, 3-2 semifinal win that put them back in the finals.

The Spartans (26-9) blazed through the playoffs in defense of their state crown. Country Day won eight straight playoff games and carried a nine-game winning streak into the state Final Four, where it then extended that streak to ten games with a 2-0 victory over the Miami Brito Panthers in the state semifinal.

With the prize they had worked and dreamed about for so long finally close within reach, the Cougars seized the moment to deliver a champion’s performance. Noah Keifer led off the game with a base hit to center, and Ever Silvente drove him in with an RBI single to left for an immediate 1-0 lead.

St. John’s Country Day loaded the bases in the bottom of the first to answer back. Preston Cole walked, Brayden Harris slapped a single into center field and Nicholas Bowden also walked to fill up the bags and put the pressure on with two outs. But Cougars starter Anthony Meady got a swinging strikeout to escape the threat unscathed. That was the closest the Spartans ever got to taking the lead the rest of the way.

Canterbury tacked on to extend it to a more comfortable advantage. Adams Mejia was hit by a pitch with two outs in the second, and he next stole second base and came home on an error. Two more runs followed in the third, as Maddox Wolff walked and scored on an RBI ground out from Silvente, and Brayden Habuda singled and scored off an RBI single from Meady.

St. John’s strung together its best offense in the fifth to get on the scoreboard and attempt a comeback. Madden Williams, T.J. Sunderhaus and Hunter Rodgers all singled to load the bases, and Harris delivered a fly ball deep to left for a sac-fly RBI that pulled the Spartans to within 4-1. But Meady again responded with a swinging strikeout that kept it right there.

Canterbury then struck for two more insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Kiefer led off with an infield single, Habuda was hit by a pitch and Silvente walked to load the bases. Kiefer was able to come home on a wild pitch, and Ashby Piatt then put the ball in play and reached on an error that allowed Habuda to cross the plate.

Down to their final outs in the seventh, the Spartans kept fighting until the end. Rodgers worked a one-out walk and then gave way to courtesy-runner Gavin Coffey, and Harris connected for a single to third that put runners on the corners. Bowden next followed with a base hit to the right side that drove Coffey in for the final run of the contest. Reliever Anthony Tenuto then got a called third strike to record the final out and preserve the Cougars’ victory.

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