High School Sports blog

'A' for effort

A light hearted clip for a Sunday afternoon.

Check out these two fans who are high-five challenged.

Tournament wins for Rez, Bluevale

A couple of quick hits for a Sunday morning.

Resurrection downed Forest Heights 64-30 to win the Sarnia St. Christopher junior boys basketball tournament this weekend.

The Phoenix went 5-0 with wins over Sarnia St. Patrick, London Beal, Sarnia St. Clair, Waterloo's Sir John A. Macdonald before beating Forest Heights, who took silver.

SJAM won the antique bronze.

In other tourney news, Bluevale beat Grand River 3-1 in the final of the Norwell Redmen Invitational up in Palmerston.

The Knights went 2-2 in pool play but undefeated in the playoff round.

I don't have official confirmation on this but a parent tells me that this is the first hockey tournament victory for the Knights ever. 

UPDATE: It was indeed BCI's first tourney win. Well done. It ain't easy beating Grand River.

Rez headed to Western Bowl

I'm between assignments today but wanted to get something up about Resurrection's senior football team.

The Phoenix steamrolled over Brantford Collegiate this afternoon 43-0 in the regional final. It wasn't even close. Rez absolutely dominated both sides of the ball.

The defence was especially impressive, as it has been all season. In four years covering high school sports, I don't know if I've ever seen a local team beat up so many opponents.

Next stop for the Phoenix is the Western Bowl Wednesday at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Windsor's Herman rolls into the Big Smoke and this team is no joke. This should be the toughest game of the season for Resurrection. And, believe it or not, Rez just might be the underdog.

Rez is only the second local team to reach the Western Bowl. Bluevale got there five years ago but lost in overtime in the final.

Off to the Heinbuch final. More to come.

Alright, back from the basketball final. Mother Teresa dethroned the two-time defending champs Pickering 81-74 in overtime. Great game and a solid comeback for Teresa, who trailed the entire game until the fourth quarter.

Ashton Khan was named MVP.

First-team all stars were: Khan, Jonathan Tull of Pickering, Natiel McKenzie of Pickering, Zack Angus of Hamilton St. Mary's and Maurice Walker of Mother Teresa.

Second-team all stars included: Stefan Okuka of Waterloo Bluevale, David Boyce from St. Thomas More in Hamilton, Troy Barnes of London's H.B. Beal, Dejan Kravic of London Westminster and Ryan Augustine of Mother Teresa.

Heinbuch results

Senior boys basketball tournament in Kitchener, scores from Day 2:

Hamilton St. Mary's 69, Waterloo St. David 66 (Zack Angus 30 for Mary's)

Scarborough Mother Teresa 85, St. Catharines Governor Simcoe 49 (Maurice Walker 20 for Teresa)

Hamilton St. Thomas More 67, Waterloo SJAM 49 (Ryan Christie 29 for More)

Pickering 66, Tecumseh St. Anne 47 (Kevin Thomas 23 for Pickering)

Waterloo Bluevale 57, Guelph Centennial 54 (OT) (Adrian Achonwa 22 for Guelph)

Kitchener Forest Heights 55, Brantford North Park 43 (Mark Peterson 18 for Forest Heights)

London Beal 47, Toronto Oakwood 46 (Troy Barnes 20 for Beal)

London Westminster 58, Toronto Emery 48 (Michael Obeng 21 for Emery)

Playing for family

Resurrection's run to the Western Bowl has been exciting to cover but sometimes life overshadows the sport.

Take fullback Steve Fedy who steps on the field for a bunch of different reasons.

Sure he's there for his teammates, but he's also battling in memory of his 11-year-old cousin Clarke Young who tragically passed away in his sleep in late August.

He offers a nice reminder that there is more to the game than winning.

Rez takes on Brantford Collegiate tomorrow at noon at University Stadium. Dress warm and get out and support the Phoenix. The team is just one win away from a trip to the Western Bowl at the Rogers Centre.

Meanwhile, Heinbuch action continues today. Bluevale advanced to the

second round after beating up London's Westminster 58-40.

Forest Heights was bounced to the consolation brackets after losing 60-47 to Toronto Oakwood.

Former St. Mary's student Troy Barnes returned to Kitchener. He's now starting for London's H.B. Beal, a team that won bronze at last year's all-Ontario playoffs.

He had a great outing last night, scoring a game-high 17-points and said it felt weird to be back at his old school.

Beal won its opener over Brantford North Park 54-44.

Barnes back on home court

Spent the night at the Heinbuch Classic at St. Mary's.

I took in the London Beal-Brantford North Park senior boys basketball game. Former St. Mary's all-star Troy Barnes has moved to London and now plays for the Beal Raiders.

So I'm interviewing the Beal coach before the game, you know, looking for him to give me the goods on having a guy like Barnes land on his doorstep. I mean Beal grabbed bronze at OFSAA last year, it's not like they need another weapon.

Turns out coach Tony Marcotullio knows nothing about Barnes. The guy starts asking me for a scouting report. I'm kind of in disbelief. Like, is this guy putting me on? So I tell him, Barnes was the leading scorer in th D8 final the past two years. That he's a high flyer, who rebounds, scores and plays solid defence. That he was an all-star etc, etc...

"Are you kidding me?" coach says. "You just made my day."

I guess Marcotullio hasn't had a chance to see Barnes play. Troy was playing football all fall and just recently joined the hoops squad.

The skipper wasn't even sure he was going to start Barnes, but now he's salivating.

"If he's half as good as you say he is, I'll buy you dinner," the coach says.

Now I'm worried that I've over-billed a local a bit too much. But, alas, Barnes bails me out.

The kid scores a game high 17 points, despite missing almost two quarters of the game with foul trouble. Beal wins 54-44.

So dinner on the Beal coach it is.

Heinbuch results Day One:

Guelph Centennial 50, Toronto Emery 48
Toronto Oakwood 60, Forest Heights 47
London Beal 54, Brantford North Park 44
Waterloo Bluevale 58, London Westminster 40

And in league play, get all the scores from the day that was -- WCSSAA Scoreboard

Rez already done?

How is this for a rub?

The OFSAA website already has Brantford Collegiate in the Western Bowl on its schedule.

The schedule and results page lists BCI against Team B for Wednesday's provincial game. The only problem? Brantford still has to beat Kitchener's Resurrection on Saturday to get there.

I'm sure it's just an innocent mistake, but one Rez will likely use to fire itself up even more for this weekend's senior football tilt.

Pigskin's best for 2008

Got my hands on the official list of all-stars and thought I'd pass it along. St. David has yet to name it's selections. I'll add them when they come in. 

1 = First team, 2 - Second team.

Eastwood: Oliver Grant (1), Zana Yousif (2)

Waterloo-Oxford: Anthony Todd (1), Kevin Chambers (2)

Grand River: Craig Nolan and Robert Schmidt (1), Jason Blondeau and Nathan Bell (2)

Rez: Brian Chris, Alex Salzman, Sean O'Brien and Beau Landry (MVP) (1), Ryan Lavadiere, Christian Lewis and Mark Harris (2)

Elmira: Scott Barry (1), Jimmy Barsa (2)

Galt: Scott Campbell and Max Hookwith (1), Kevin Simpson and Brandon Moss (2)

Glenview Park: Rob Flader (1), Cory Prince (2)

Huron Heights: Tom Woodhouse (1), Chad Davis (2)

Jacob Hespeler: Eric Krebs (1) and Connor Paddock (2)

Forest Heights: Dahlin Brooks and Mike Daly (1), Matt Steele and Wes Hackett (2)

Preston: Travis Mullin and Chris Ackie (1), Zach Bogdon and Spencer Adams (2)

Southwood: Corey Dawson and Phil Wilson (1), Raffi Tirabassi and Nick Froese (2)

SJAM: Garritt Post and Steve McNally (1), Shelby McInnis and Tomson Hecky (2)

St. Mary's: Ryan Richards (1), Mike Shubat (2)

WCI: Dan Silvestri (1), Alex Despotovic (2)

Cameron Heights: Craig Hutchison (1), Andrew Thibaudeau (2)

Bluevale: Zack Peats Bond, Ryan Cole and Jason Rice (1), Wes Palmer, Nik Lubzynski (pictured making tackle) and Spiros Trasias (2)

St. Benedict: Jeremy Petrie (1), Jordan Brown (2)

Great year for Gavric

Former Eastwood soccer star Branko Gavric just wrapped up a fabulous sophomore season with the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

The midfielder was named a second team all-conference all-star and made two all-tournament teams throughout the season.

The Cougars were 11-10 overall with victories over notables Ohio State and Brown during regular season play before losing 2-1 to UNC Greensboro in the Southern Conference championship match.

Photo courtesy of the College of Charleston athletics.

Double win for Celtics

A win in junior and senior basketball for St. David.

But check out the junior score -- 27-20 over St Benedict. A defensive gem.

Three stars:

1. St. Mary's senior girls volleyball team - A 3-0 win over Monsignor Doyle.

2. Alex Thompson, St. Mary's: He scored 19 for Mary's as the Eagles dumped Doyle 56-26 in junior boys basketball.

3. Shane Teet, Monsignor Doyle: Another big game for the Teeter on the senior hoops circuit. He had 20 points, but Doyle lost to St. David 67-41.

Scoreboard and standings