High School Sports blog

Oh so close

What a great start to the season.

Or maybe it was just beginner’s luck.

Whatever the case, props to me for going 8-1 in Week 1 in my first-ever attempt at picking Waterloo County seniors boys football league winners.

The only blemish came courtesy of the St. Benedict Saints, who posted a 35-9 win over the Eastwood Rebels on Tuesday. Congratulations to the Saints, who with the win have already guaranteed they will have a better record than they did in 2008 when they went 0-6.

Week 2 won’t be so easy to pick, starting with an A division game on Friday (3 p.m.) between Cameron Heights and Bluevale that could answer a lot of questions despite it being so early in the schedule.

The Golden Gaels are coming off an impressive 34-7 win over the Elmira Lancers in their opener, with receiver Andrew Thibaudeau scoring three touchdowns and power runner Tyler Varga adding a pair. Could the Gaels be really that good?

The Knights, meanwhile, wound up on the short end of a 24-9 decision to the defending champion Resurrection Phoenix. Was it just a bad day for the Knights or are the Phoenix really that much better?

Here’s what makes this one so important. A win by Cameron and the Gaels will establish themselves as a legitimate threat to challenge Rez and Sir John A. Macdonald for top spot. A win by Bluevale, on the other hand, and it would appear that Rez and SJAM are the teams to beat.

The Highlanders, for those who missed it, looked very strong on both sides of the ball in their Week 1 romp over Preston.

The keys for Bluevale on defence will be getting pressure on Cameron QB Andrew Usztics and doing their best to slow Thibaudeau and Varga. It could be much more difficult than it sounds.

On offence, Knights coach Chris Wolf wants to see better blocking from his lineman.

“We have some great skilled athletes but if our quarterback (Wes Palmer) doesn’t have time to get them the ball or if our running backs don’t have holes to run through, we’re not going to be successful,” said Wolf at Wednesday’s practice.

Knights running back SpirosTrasias has the talent to do some damage if the holes are there.

Cameron Heights coach Kevin Bell is looking forward to seeing how his team stacks up against a Bluevale squad that is normally among the league’s best.

“We’ve got more speed than we’ve had in the past and a couple of our guys are a threat to take the ball into the end zone every time they touch the ball,” said Bell at his team’s practice on Wednesday.

“And our defence is coming together and we’ll be aggressive. . . . Bluevale has had our number over the last few years so we’re hoping we have the talent to beat them this year.”

People I’ve talked with suggest Bluevale is the team to beat in this one. So, of course, I’ll go with  Cameron Heights. 

Thursday

Elmira (0-1) vs. Resurrection (1-0), 7 p.m., Centennial.

The Phoenix can only get better and already looked pretty good in their Week 1 win over Bluevale. Look for Rez running back Beau Landry to have another big game against the Lancers. Rez wins big.

Forest Heights (0-0) vs. Preston (0-1), 7 p.m., Rogers

The Panthers didn’t have anything go right in their loss against SJAM in Week 1. Still, there is plenty of talent there. Trojans coach Tim McIvor is enthused about his young squad going into the opener. A flip of the coin and it comes up Trojans.

St. David (0-1) at St. Mary’s (0-0), 3 p.m.

The Eagles make their B division debut in this one and coach Peter Cheeseman likes his roster. The Celtics went 0-6 last year and need a win to turn things around. It just won’t happen this week. Take the Eagles.

Friday

Galt (1-0) at Southwood (1-0), 1  p.m.

The week’s first clash between undefeated teams could be an early indicator of which team is tops in the B division standings. The difference could be the Galt defence, which was nearly perfect in an 8-3 win over Huron Heights in Week 1. Now the Galt offence needs to come to life. The Ghosts are the choice in a close one.

Jacob Hespeler (1-0) at Huron Heights (0-1), 3 p.m.

The Hawks looked very solid in a Week 1 romp over WCI as the offence was solid all around and the defence was up to the task. It will be more of the same on Friday.

Tuesday

Grand River (1-0) at St. Benedict (1-0), 3 p.m.

Kyle Americano is a great name and he plays for the Saints.

Glenview Park (0-1) vs. Waterloo-Oxford (1-0), 7 p.m., St. David.

The Crusaders took an ‘it’s-us-against-the-world’ approach to firing themselves up for their Week 1 win over KCI. The Baden boys simply don’t feel they get the respect they deserve. Sorry guys. The Panthers win.

KCI (0-1) vs. Eastwood (0-1), 3 p.m., Bridgeport

The Raiders actually did some things very well in their Week 1 loss to Waterloo-Oxford. They’ll build on that this week and get their first win since their rebirth.

Last week: 8-1

* * *

Speaking of football, there's a bit of a safety issue at the Bridgeport home of KCI. Nothing too big, but one of the end zone corners is a bit of a mess on the main playing field. It's not level and has tennis ball size rocks dotting the area. Just make both end zones five yards shorter and problem solved.

***

A look at the District 8 volleyball standings reveal an interesting trend.

On the senior side, Woodland Christian, Rez and Rockway are all at 3-0, while St. Mary's is 2-1.

On the junior side, Woodland Christian, Rez and St. Mary's are 3-0, while Rockway is  2-1.

St. David, Monsignor Doyle, Pere Rene and St. Benedict occupy the bottom half of the standings in both.

Paying tribute to Coach

St. David is saying thanks to Tom (Coach) O'Brien.

The Waterloo school will host a tournament this Friday and Saturday and start the festivities with a ceremony honouring O'Brien, who spent 20 years at the school during his 40-plus year career. He coached high school roundball for 31 years and coached at both the senior and junior levels at St. David. His big year was 2007, when he led the Celtics senior girls squad to a CWOSSA triple-A title and the school's first-ever appearance at the OFSSA triple-A tourney.

The inaugural Coach O'Brien Classic Basketball Tournament will feature eight teams, including Forest Heights and  Guelph Lourdes.

O'Brien will be honoured during a pre-game ceremony at noon on Friday. The Celtics will play London Catholic Central following the ceremony.

Tourney Draw

* * *

A hiking trip has thrown a wrench into Wednesday's District 8 senior  boys volleyball schedule.

With many of its players unavailable due to a Grade 11 excursion, St. David has had to pull the plug on Wednesday's game in Waterloo against Monsignor Doyle.

The junior game will go ahead as planned and the Celtics hope to play the senior game on Nov. 5.

* * *

Waterloo-Oxford had dropped out of the Waterloo County junior girls basketball league.

Big man on the line

The guy wearing No. 95 casts a very large shadow.

Offensive and defensive lineman Abe Upshaw stood tall for the Preston  Panthers on Thursday in their season opener against the Sir  John  A. Macdonald Highlanders. Very tall.

The six-foot-eight Upshaw towered over the opposition at University Stadium. The 280-pounder had a solid game as well, despite winding up on the wrong side of a 37-3 loss.

* * *

Thanks to a reader for telling me to keep an eye on some of last year's WCSSAA talent that has moved on to play rugby at university level.

Four players -- Andrew Mealing (SJAM), Zach Bogdon (Preston), Jake Heimpel (Bluevale), Ben Kowba (Bluevale) -- are at the University of Waterloo, Tom Van Horne and Josh Van Horne (Jacob  Hespeler) and Mark Dinsmore (Bluevale) are at Guelph, Clarke O'Reilly (Forest Heights) is at RMC and Matt Giilck (Forest  Heights) is at Laurier.

* * *

Some big events today, including the season-opening University of Waterloo cross-country running race. That's where I'll be.

SJAM crushes Preston in opener

That was an impressive performance.

Quarterback James Fracas threw four touchdown passes on Thursday afternoon as the Sir  John A. Macdonald Highlanders spanked the Preston Panthers 37-3 in the Waterloo County senior boys football opener at University Stadium in Waterloo

Fracas threw two TD passes to Brian Reiter and one each to Billy Macnab and Erik Reikman.

The SJAM defence was solid all game and put a lid on Preston running back  Chris Ackie.

Week 1 winners....

The time for talking is over and it's time to make some picks. Considering a co-worker would routinely win office NFL pools by picking which city she would rather visit, how much skill does this really take? This feature will likely move back to the regular paper next week, depending on how well things go  in the coming days.

The Waterloo County senior boys football league kicks off Thursday with what should be a great opener in the afternoon, followed by three contests in the evening. It all starts with an A division clash at University Stadium between Sir John A Macdonald and Preston.

Both squads are historically solid but the people I've chatted with -- how else is a newbie going to make picks? -- think the Highlanders might have the edge here. The Panthers boast a solid running game with Chris Ackie leading the way, but look for the Highlanders to prevail.

WCI at Jacob Hespeler

Both teams are hoping to climb the ladder to the A division this season. Give the early edge to the Hawks.

Southwood at  St. David

The Celtics have put last season's 0-6 record behind them as they play their first-ever meaningful game on their new artificial field. Sabres coach  Scott Tupling likes what he sees of his team's line play and that should be the difference. The Celtics will have to wait for their first win.

Huron Heights vs. Galt (at Rogers)

The Huskies program is on the rise after a 5-1 season last year. Still, the Ghosts are determined to make it back to the A division and coach Brad Marsh thinks he might have the horses to do it. The vote goes to Galt.

FRIDAY

Resurrection at Bluevale

A rematch of last year's A championship game should be a beauty. Weir's Football Magazine lists the Phoenix as the fifth-best team in Ontario. On another site, a number of students have weighed in on who's going to win with about a 50-50 split, and one vote for Cameron Heights. Jesse Collins is a big addition at Bluevale after playing for WCI last season. This will probably be the game of the week and until the champs are beaten, they are still the champs. Take Rez.

Cameron Heights at Elmira

The Golden Gaels are the popular choice for many this year and they're expected to be a team that will put a lot of points on the board. This A division stuff is all new to the Lancers, a team that has made an impressive rise to the top. Cameron wins this one.

NEXT TUESDAY

Glenview Park at Grand River

I'll take the Renegades on a hunch.

St. Benedict vs. Eastwood (at St. David)

Neither team made the playoffs last year but the Rebels managed a 3-3 record while the Saints went 0-6. A different season, but go with Eastwood.

Waterloo-Oxford vs. KCI (at Bridgeport)

The Raiders are back. The Crusaders will spoil their return.

Great video

Thanks to Coach K for pointing out this video of Cameron Heights running back Tyler Varga. 

Congratultions to Monsignor Doyle graduate Ashley Tirabassi of the University of Albany for being named the America East Conference Women's Soccer player of the week. She is the first player in the program's history to earn the honour.

Tirabassi broke the school's all-time scoring record last Friday when she scored the only goal in the Great Danes' 1-0 win over Niagara. The senior now has 39 career points to move past the previous school record of 37, set in 1983. She also has 16 career goals, which ties her for top spot on the all-time list.

The University of Albany women's soccer squad competes at the NCAA Division 1 level.

Players are the losers

Waterloo County football players are disappointed.

As word has gotten out that local schools will not  be in the hunt for the Western Bowl this season, the boys who put on the pads and helmets are making it pretty clear they aren't happy.

"They're very disappointed," said Rez coach Tony Chris, whose Phoenix won the Western  Bowl last year in Toronto's Rogers Centre.

"A lot of people are really upset."

With good reason. The players don't care about the politics of football. They just want to compete. Players have let their feelings be known on websites like allcanadagridiron.

However, WCSSAA officials couldn't reach a deal with the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association on constructing a new path to the Western Bowl for Waterloo Region teams. WCSSAA coaches were worried about player safety as their teams had to play in too many games in a short period of time to reach the final. They also figured they deserved some sort of special treatment because WCSSAA has 20 senior teams competing, while the other three associations -- Guelph, Brantford and Bluewater -- have 16 teams in total. There were other issues and arguments as well, but a compromise could not be reached.

So unfortunately, the final game this season is the Waterloo County championship game and that's a real shame.

Looking ahead

It appears the team-by-team Waterloo County senior boys football preview will appear in Wednesday's  Record.

I've been busy polling coaches on what to expect for the coming season and will share what they have to say next week. Of the 18 coaches who have responded so far (where are  you Andy Nowak and Sean Jackson?), Tim McIvor of Forest Heights seems to have the tallest challenge. His Trojans have lost 18 starters from last year's squad that ran the table in the B division before bowing out in the playoffs.

Forest Heights is back in the A division this year and McIvor will have his work cut out for him.

McIvor takes it all in stride and says the team will be well-conditioned and a formidable opponent.

The Trojans have a Week 1 bye and open their season on Thursday, Oct. 1 against  Preston.

* * *

Still with football, scrimmages are taking place today and I'm heading out to St. David  to  talk with Jason Chris of Rez, who is taking over for his older brother Brian at quarterback. Talk about big shoes to fill as Brian led the Phoenix to a championship last year.

It's just the way it is

I had a request from "Football Mom" to start covering junior football games.

If it was only that easy.

With both Waterloo County and  District 8 leagues to cover, it's difficult to spread the love around.  In addition to football, there's girls basketball, cross-country running and boys volleyball to cover 

I'll never say never but it's unlikely the juniors will see much ink in the paper, unless something out of the ordinary happens. Having said that, let me know about junior stars and we can always try to give them space on the blog.

* * *

St. Mary's senior boys football team lost a key offensive weapon over the summer when receiver Lukas Balkovich decided to focus on another sport. Balkovich recently accepted a scholarship to attend a private school in British Columbia while playing rugby.

Kip can kick

Check out the leg on Kip Smith. The Colorado kid set a state record with this kick. For those with plenty of time on their hands, the entire game is posted on YouTube.

Thanks to  Alley Rondel for pointing out this humorous, disturbing and just plain weird website that tackles this pressing issue: Is video gaming a threat to America's high school jock culture?

Here's just a taste:

"When video gaming first became popular, experts warned of the likelihood of increased amounts of obesity, apathy,  suicide, school  violence, Satanism, masturbation, homosexuality and unemployment. Despite the fact that these predictions have come true, not much effort has been made to stop the production and distribution of video games. Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft, the Sims, Halo, Guitar Hero and Mario Brothers, just to name a few, have made unscrupulous corporations rich and taught a generation of our children to hate society and their parents."

If you dare, read on...