The secret to Father Judge’s historic basketball season is the grandmom in the student section

The game was over, another win earlier this season for a boys’ basketball program emerging as one of the city’s best. But Father Judge coach Chris Roantree knew something was missing.

“I turned around to her,” Roantree said, “and I said, ‘Where’s my chant at today?‘”

Michelle Rivera belted it out — “Hey you, you know the story, tell the whole wide world that this is Judge territory” — and the crowd followed along. It’s a catchy chant — “My nieces sing it all the time,” Roantree said — and it’s the best way to know that a Judge win really is a win.

The Catholic League champs have a knockdown three-point shooter, a Division I-bound point guard, and a towering big man who doesn’t shy away from rebounds. They also have a grandmother who sits in the student section, a secret weapon providing the soundtrack for a historic season.

“I can always hear her,” said Derrick Morton-Rivera, her grandson and a first-team All-Catholic guard. “She’s loud. She always has a lot of energy, trying to hype the energy up.”

Judge plays Roman Catholic on Saturday night in Hershey for the PIAA 6A state championship, a rematch of this year’s Catholic League final. Yes, Michelle Rivera will be there as Judge tries to win its first state crown. And if you can’t find her, just listen.

“I try to get everyone riled up,” she said. “I’m on the sidelines, running around, starting the chants, and getting everyone excited. I know that we have to keep cheering and keep cheering loud so they hear us and know not to give up. It pushes them.”

Rivera asked her grandson before the season if she could sit during games with the Judge students behind the bench. The 56-year-old didn’t want to embarrass the kid who calls her “Me-Mom,” but that’s where she felt she belonged, pom-poms in hand. The grandson didn’t mind.

“They’re like, ‘Come on, Grandma; come on, Grandma,‘” Rivera said. “It’s support and it’s love. The kids need that. I’m always going to give it to my grandson, and I’m going to share it with his teammates as well.”

Morton-Rivera’s father, D.J. Rivera, played at Neumann Goretti, and that’s how Michelle Rivera got in the stands. Twenty years later, she’s just as loud.

“We’re black and gold,” said Carl Arrigale, who coached D.J. at Neumann. “So they wore black and kind of blended in with the rest of the people. But now they stand out with the baby blue hoodies on. They definitely stand out. They’re enjoying it again.”

Neumann traveled in 2005 to North Carolina to play a nationally ranked team. Most of the parents couldn’t make the trip, but Michelle did. The Riveras had some family nearby and they helped Michelle make a Charlotte, N.C., gym feel like 10th and Moore.

“We didn’t have many people there,” Arrigale said. “But put it this way: The people we did have, they made their presence felt. They knew we were around.”

A North Carolina newspaper wrote about the crazy fans from Philly who took over the gym more than 500 miles from home. For Michelle, she was just cheering for her son like she always did.

“We were just a small section of that gym,” she said. “I think the kids hear that support and it helps motivate them. It’s like the sixth man is with them. We support them in good, bad, or indifferent. We’re here.”

Her parents were loud when her brother played at Engineering & Science and brought the noise when D.J. played at Neumann. Her sister, Mikole, who died in 2021, once stormed into the Neumann locker room and asked why D.J. wasn’t getting the ball more. Mikole was a firecracker, Michelle said. But that’s who the Riveras are. They’re passionate.

“We’re very vocal,” Michelle Rivera said “It’s always been that way.”

Morton-Rivera’s mother, Ashley Morton, owns a clothing boutique on Frankford Avenue, which explains why Elaine Morton -- Morton-Rivera’s other grandmom -- is the best dressed at games.

“My mom has the varsity jacket, the face tattoos, the earrings, the tights, the socks, the Crocs,” Morton said. “She has everything Judge and everything says ‘Favorite grandson’ because that’s her only grandson.”

Judge does not have cheerleaders at games so Morton-Rivera’s family became their own squad. Elaine Morton hosts pep rallys before big games for the Judge moms at her home at Lawncrest and waves pom-poms in the stands. Both grandmoms know how to bring the noise.

“We always get dirty looks from other cheerleaders when they see us coming in,” Ashley Morton said.

But those looks are worth it as they know the kids feed off the support.

“You know how you get one of those headaches from yelling? I always have headaches,” Morton said. “We’ll be like ‘Ya’ll hear us?’ They say ‘Yeah, we need that.’ That’s what keeps us going.”

D.J. took three buses each morning from Lawncrest to Neumann Goretti, where he won a Catholic League title and scored more than 1,000 career points. It would have made sense to send his son, who grew up in Mayfair, to South Philly. But he wanted Morton-Rivera to create his own path. So the son stayed in Mayfair and went to Judge.

“I knew [Morton-Rivera] was special,” D.J. said. “I wanted him to make his own name. I didn’t want them to talk about me. People always ask me, ‘Why Judge? Why Judge?’ I can tell you that after he won the championship, no one is asking me that anymore. It’s kind of cool.”

Morton-Rivera didn’t know much about Father Judge, which had not won a Catholic League championship since 1998 and won just four league games when Morton-Rivera was in the eighth grade.

“When I first came here, I honestly never thought we would win a PCL championship,” Morton-Rivera said. “We made a lot of history this year. I didn’t know anything about Judge, but my dad told me about it, and I trusted him.”

Morton-Rivera scored his 1,000th career point earlier this season, hit six threes to lift Judge to the state final, and has several Division I scholarship offers. His dad’s plan is working out.

» READ MORE: Father Judge looks to leave behind a legacy — knocking off Roman Catholic in the PCL final ‘was step one’

“I’m very proud,” Michelle said. “You see the success now. He knew. That’s a father’s love. He had a vision. I just had to trust my son. I was like, ‘You know basketball.‘”

The Crusaders won 10 of their 15 league games last season and reached the semifinals, offering promise that the program was back. A year later, they won it all with a bunch of Northeast Philly kids. Morton-Rivera and Kiev Rucker grew up in Mayfair, Kevar Kennedy is from Wissinoming, and Kevin Beck and Rocco Westfield are from the far Northeast. They stayed home and won a title.

“The one cool thing is that they’ve gotten to see the impact of Father Judge and how Father Judge can help them after basketball,” Roantree said. “It’s been special. We’ve really gotten to see it during this run. Playing down [at] the Palestra in front of 10,000 people and it felt like 7,000 were Judge people. There was blue all over the place.”

Neumann Goretti was running through warmups earlier this month at Judge when Arrigale heard that familiar voice from the stands.

“I didn’t even have to look,” Arrigale said. “I can close my eyes and know where she is. We’re a little older than we were back then, but she’s still the same.”

Roantree said Morton-Rivera “probably has the biggest contingent of fans” in the Catholic League as everyone — parents, grandparents, aunt, and uncles — follows Judge everywhere. And everyone is loud like Me-Mom.

“My mom is everything,” D.J. said. “She’s the biggest support system you’re ever going to see. The same way she was crazy for me is the same way she loves him and her other grandchildren. She goes all out. She wears the Judge hoodie everywhere. She’s proud. That’s my mom for you.”

Morton-Rivera was born when his dad was in college at St. Joseph’s and traveled with his family to watch his dad when he was finishing his college days at a Division II school in Alabama. They wore matching shirts and cheered from the stands. For D.J., that’s the way it always was. And now that’s the way it is for his son. Michelle, 20 years after cheering for her son, is turning up the volume again. She’ll be ready to sing on Saturday.

“I think that’s the secret,” Morton-Rivera said. “My family brings the energy for everyone. It’s always good to have support. It feels good on the inside. Plus, they don’t just support me. They support everyone.”