While his brother stars in the Catholic League basketball playoffs, Frankie Westfield stars in his Union debut

ORLANDO — It’s been quite a few days for the Westfield family of Morrell Park in Northeast Philadelphia.

On Thursday, Rocco Westfield led Father Judge to the Catholic League boys’ basketball title game, hitting seven three-pointers in a semifinal win over St. Joseph’s Prep. On Sunday, he took to the Palestra floor again, helping the Crusaders win their first championship since 1998.

Right before then, cousin Abbie McFillin was on the same hardwood in Archbishop Carroll’s loss to Neumann Goretti in the girls' title game. Her sister Maddie would have joined her but had to watch from courtside because of a knee injury.

Rocco’s brother Frankie Westfield had pledged to be there for it all, and kept his promise. But in between, he also had a game to play in — in his case, for a professional team.

With the Union’s usual starting right back Nathan Harriel out injured for Saturday’s season opener at Orlando City, new manager Bradley Carnell had a big call to make. Would he give veteran Olivier Mbaizo the start, or send a 19-year-old rookie into the deep end?

Here Carnell was, before any official game action, having to make the kind of decision for which he was hired. Sporting director Ernst Tanner wanted a manager who would be more wiling to play the Union’s young prospects than Jim Curtin was when Tanner fired him, and Carnell was ready.

» READ MORE: Union win season opener in stunning fashion, 4-2 at Orlando City

This ready, though? With a defensive unit that had the most questions of any part of the roster, and a midfield playing a box shape for the first time? And with a player who was a fine vice-captain of the Union’s reserve team, but had never played a second at the first-team level?

Not only was Carnell ready, but as it turned out, so was Westfield. On a night when all of the Union’s attacking stars on the field scored, Westfield commanded the biggest headlines in the Union’s stunning 4-2 win.

He had 72 touches, three blocks, four clearances, five defensive recoveries, won three of four duels, and completed 32 of 48 passes, including eight passes into the attacking third of the field.

“Of course, I was excited, but also I was ready — I prepared all week for this,” Westfield said. “I just want to say thank you, Coach Bradley, for trusting in me, and [to] the whole staff. I’m truly excited and very grateful.”

Carnell signaled that if Harriel was healthy, he’d have started. But he also had lots of praise for Westfield’s work throughout the preseason.

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“Frankie has had an excellent year, I would say, and he’s put himself in the window and has utilized his chance,” he said. “Through one man’s misfortune with Nate, all of a sudden, now Frankie has the opportunity, and does really well.”

When did Carnell feel Westfield was ready for a moment like this?

“Four-and-a-half weeks ago,” he answered, which means it didn’t take long.

“He’s just shown commitment to the process, he’s committed to the principles,” Carnell continued. “And we always say, you commit to the principles, this game model will reward you. So I’m happy for Frankie — he gets himself an assist as well. What a memorable day for him and his family.”

Unfortunately, given the timing of everything, the family wasn’t was in the building for the occasion. Frankie said his father, John — a former soccer player at Archbishop Ryan and the former Philadelphia University (now Jefferson) — tried to make it down to the Union game but could not get a flight back in time for Sunday’s basketball.

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Frankie didn’t have to worry about himself, since the Union went home by charter late Saturday night.

“Yes, I’ll be there,” he said. And as it turned out, he brought Cavan Sullivan with him. (Cavan’s grandfather Larry was Father Judge’s boys’ soccer coach from 1983-91.)

There was one more question before Westfield left the stadium Saturday night, a little investigative reporting. Where does all the family’s sporting prowess come from?

“My mom, she’s one of 11, and I have 40-plus cousins, and we all play sports,” Westfield said. “We all grow up together competing, so it just comes within us. We’re all very close, we all live five minutes away from each other, we all hang out a lot.”

And these days, they’re as good at the world’s game as they are at Philadelphia’s most traditional one.

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It was impressive enough that the Union scored four goals with a squad that had never played an official game together. Add another spoonful, too, for it being a come-from-behind win after Orlando scored an early opener.

But the specific names on the board especially mattered: Tai Baribo, Dániel Gazdag, Mikael Uhre, and then Baribo again. They’re now all off the mark to start the season, a boost of confidence for the team and the trio individually.

Baribo’s goals, in the 23rd and 64th minutes, were pretty straightforward (Westfield assisted the second). Gazdag’s near-post finish in the 48th capped an outstanding 12-pass move, the kind of play you see from teams that have been together a lot longer than this one.

Seven players touched the ball as it went around the field. Gazdag said Quinn Sullivan’s pass for the assist, a right-footed cross from the left attacking midfield position to the back post, was a play they rehearsed in practice.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia now feels like home for Tai Baribo in his third year with the Union

“It’s a different style of playing from what we did before,” Gazdag said. “We had six weeks to practice. There are still things that are new for us that come up during the game, but I think we are getting used to it, and we are doing it better and better day by day.”

After the ball went in, the entire team celebrated together on the end line.

Uhre’s goal included some good luck, but he made his own along the way: a dash toward Rodrigo Schlegel as a pass was coming from teammate David Brekalo. Schlegel misplayed it, Uhre pounced, and Lions goalkeeper Pedro Gallese was in no-man’s land as the ball went by.

“I just saw a hard ball, and I could see that would be trouble, so I kind of started my run a little bit,” Uhre said. “And then when [Schlegel] touched it toward me, I could see that Gallese was out of the goal, and I just knew that if I put it with enough power, there was no chance he was getting back.”

After the final whistle, Union principal owner Jay Sugarman and part-owner Richard Leibovitch were rightly thrilled as they stood outside the locker room, with Bad Bunny tracks blasting down the hall at a celebratory volume.

“After last season, everyone was disappointed, so it was really important to start the season with a win,” Gazdag said.

The action backed up the words.

» READ MORE: After three consecutive double-digit scoring seasons, Mikael Uhre faces a contract year and his critics