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Last year, Matthew Knoebel spent his days in a sixth-grade class at Corpus Christi Catholic School. He transferred to Penndale Middle School for seventh grade before being diagnosed with AML Leukemia in October.

Normally, the annual Corpus Christi CYO March Madness Tournament partners with the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches to raise money for the battle against cancer.

In its eleventh year, the community overwhelmingly decided to shift proceeds to benefit Matt and his family, helping to offset steep medical costs and other expenses while the family focuses on battling the cancer.

Were happy to highlight one of our own neighbors, Linda Saba, a CYO board member, said. Its great to focus on helping a family that belongs to our parish.

This year, 178 fifth-through eighth-graders signed up to play in the weekend-long event that began Friday, March 8 at 5:15 p.m. All day Saturday, from 10:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. the 22 teams played each other to determine who plays for the championship on Sunday. Teammates are selected at random to keep things fair.

Each year scanning the schools year book, youll see that many of the kids list March Madness as their favorite memory, Saba said.

Corpus Christi alumni also come back to coach the teams. Ninth-and tenth-graders coach the fifth-and sixth-grade teams, while eleventh-and twelfth-graders coach the seventh-and eighth-grade teams.

In the seventh-and eighth-grade category, members of the Notre Dame girls team had class with Knoebel last year.

I really think this money will help him a lot, Kara Fichetti, a seventh grader at Corpus Christi said.

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Corpus Christis March Madness benefits one of its own battling Leukemia