High School Sports blog

A busy week of previews

The blog has been a bit of an afterthought this week as I've been hounding teacher/coaches to help me out with the various previews that have  been running in The Waterloo Region Record this week.

For those who missed them, we had a District 8 boys basketball preview on Tuesday and a WCSSAA boys hockey preview on Wednesday.

The WCSSAA girls hockey preview will run on Thursday with the WCSSAA boys basketball preview to run on Friday.

* * *

It was great to see the Monsignor Doyle Mustangs take to the ice on Tuesday for their second-ever WCSSAA boys hockey game.

The Mustangs gave it all they had in a hard-fought 2-2 tie with the Cameron Heights Gaels.

Word around Galt Arena Gardens was that Doyle principal Chris Woodcroft deserves huge props for the establishment of girls and boys hockey teams there.

Mustangs goalie MacKenzie  Weibe won't much care for the photo of him giving up a second-period goal to Cameron's Ryan Chambers, but at least he looked good in the sharp, new uniforms.

Speaking of sharp, Mustangs captain Austin Puim figured his team had its work cut out for it as soon as the boys took to the ice against the Forest Heights Trojans last week.

"You could tell just by looking at them that they were going to be good . . . they had their names on the back of their jerseys," he said.

The Trojans won the game 5-0.

* * *

Former St. Mary's student Lukas Balkovech has been selected to represente Canada on the national rugby sevens team in Dubai this Friday and will continue on with the team to South Africa.

Here's a copy of a 'postcard' written by Balkovech on the Rugby Canada website:

Hi Everyone,

We’ve safely touched down in Dubai and are settling in quite nicely. Last night, after a day of long, yet very comfortable travel, we had a quick bite to eat and headed off for some well needed rest.

On Monday morning, we departed for our first training session to shake the travel out of our legs and adapt to the very hot climate. Overall, it was a great success. It felt fantastic to get a little bit of a run around in and put pieces of the team’s systems together. So far, spirits are high, and we all look forward to the rest of the week’s trainings and scrimmages before the competition begins on Friday.

Dubai is certainly a beautiful and interesting city. For many on the team, it is their first time here and there is so much to take in. The hospitality, residence, food and facilities are amazing. We couldn’t ask to be treated any better. Our personal team liaison and other tournament volunteers have made sure we are well looked after and comfortable.

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, we have more training sessions and scrimmages with other teams in the competition, which will greatly benefit our performance come game day. The pieces will fall into place and we are looking to putting on some strong performances in our pool with Australia, Scotland and Wales.

To all of our family, friends, and fans back home, we thank you for your continuing support of the program. Expect some great rugby from the team both in this competition and next weekend in Port Elizabeth, South Africa!

Sincerely,
Lukas Balkovec 

Thanks to St. Mary's teacher Tom Mandich for the heads up.

* * *

With the arrival of the winter seasons, please keep in mind that I'll resurrect the weekly top-10 list of outstanding performances. Contact me at mbryson@therecord.com with nominations.

And once again, submissions are particulary needed from volleyball coaches and players as stats aren't reported to the WCSSAA or D8 websites.

 

 

 

 

Schenck named MVP of District 8 league

Kaitlyn Schenck of St. Mary’s has been named MVP of the District 8 senior girls basketball league for the second straight season.

Shenck led the Eagles to the District 8 championship and will play on the league’s all-star team on Wednesday night in Guelph against the District 10 all-stars.

She is joined on the first team by Laura Boterman of St. Mary's, Shelby Dixon of St. Mary's, Janelle Santi of Resurrection, Jacqui Rodrigues of Resurrection, and Dana Milani of St. Benedict.

The second team is Janelle Case of St. Benedict, Meghan Mason of St. Benedict, Natasha Stoyakovich of St. Mary's, Emma Jada of St. Mary's, Danielle Duncan of Resurrection, and Marley Gray of Monsignor Doyle.

Sarah Schultz of Resurrection is the junior MVP and will be joined on the first all-star team by Laura Kay of St. Mary's, Lindsay Geffros of St. David, Amber Baetson of St. Benedict, Sydney Greulich of St. Mary's, and Celia McGlynn of Resurrection

The second team features Heather Sandall of St. David, Ellen McGowan of Resurrection, Taylor Fitzpatrick of Monsignor Doyle, Angela Mercurio of St. Mary's, Kayla Leusink of St. Benedict, and Samantha Veltri of Rockway

WCI and Grand River shoot for bronze

The Waterloo Vikings will play for bronze on Saturday at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations quad-A girls basketball championship in Belle River.

 The Vikings’ quest for gold ended on Friday night when the fourth-ranked team fell 74-49 to No. 1 Sir Thomas More of Hamilton. The Vikings will play the loser of Friday night’s late game between No. 11 St. John’s College of Brantford and No. 2 Mother Teresa of London. The winner will take on Sir Thomas More for gold.

The Vikings reached the semifinals with a hard-fought 74-55 victory over No. 5 Eastern Commerce. The teams were tied 33-33 at the half before the Vikings wore down their opponents. Lindsay Taylor had 20 points and four assists, while Alex Klein had 16 points, four assists and 10 rebounds. Lynn Dabrowski had 15 points and eight rebounds, while Lindsay Lessard had 15.

Meanwhile at the OFSAA quad-A boys volleyball championship in Hamilton, the Grand River Renegades’ run at gold ended on Friday night with a heartbreaking five-set semifinal loss to Toronto St. Michael’s.

 The match went down to the wire before No. 2 St. Michael’s recorded a 25-23, 22-25, 23-25, 25-14, 16-14 win over No. 3 Grand River.

The No. 5 Forest Heights Trojans bowed out in the quarter-finals in a four-set loss to No. 4 Holy Names of Windsor. St. Michael’s will face No. 1 Bill Crothers of Markham in Saturday’s gold-medal game. Grand River will play Holy Names for bronze.

The No. 9 Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders reached the quarter-finals of the OFSAA triple-A championship, but were eliminated in a 3-0 loss to No. 1 London Oakridge.

The Woodland Cavaliers are still in the hunt for gold on Manitoulin Island at the single-A volleyball championships after scoring a 3-0 win over St. Thomas Aquinas on Friday night.

The Cavs will play a semifinal game on Saturday.

OFSAA updates

The WCI Vikings are going to win a medal at the OFSAA girls quad-A basketball tournament in Belle  River.

Lindsey Taylor scored 20, while Alex Klein and Lynn Dabrowski added 15 each in a 74-55 win over Eastern Commerce in  a quarter-final matchup.

The No. 4 Vikings will meet No. 1 Sir Thomas More in a semifinal game.

* * *

Forest Heights dropped to 2-1 this morning at the OFSAA quad-A volleyball championship in Hamilton but will still advance to the quarter-final round. The Trojans finished second in their pool.

Grand River, meanwhile, improved to 3-0 with 2-1 come-from-behind win over Uxbridge. Renegades finish first in their pool.

Waterloo-Oxford is 1-2 at the OFSAA triple-A volleyball championship and is in a must-win game against Kingston.

Woodland Christian is 3-0 at the OFSAA single-A volleyball championship on  Manitoulin Island and through to the quarter-finals.

 

A horrible way to win a title

Guelph Mercury reporter Tony Saxon described it this way:

GUELPH — It was a shame that such a well-played football game was decided on such a soulless play.

Assumption Lions quarterback/kicker Ben Hall kicked a 20-yard rouge with just over a minute left in the game — intentionally punting the ball through the John F. Ross Royals end zone for a single point — to give the Brantford team a 29-28 win in the CWOSSA championship game Thursday at Ross.

By all accounts, the title game was  a beauty. Still, I have to agree with Saxon on this one . . . that is no way to decide a championship football game  . . . or any football game for that matter.

I've never been a fan of the rouge and never will be -- and that goes for giving a team a single point after a missed field-goal attempt.

The Canadian game has plenty of great rules . . . the rouge isn't one of them.

* * *

Hard to believe, but the WCSSAA boys hockey season starts today with eight games on tap.

Any thoughts on the upcoming season?

Feel free to pass story suggestions along to me at mbryson@therecord.com

* * *

Girls hockey, volleyball and boys basketball start next week. Once again, feel free to pass along any and all story suggestions.

* * *

Lindsay Lessard scores 20 points as WCI Vikings beat Brampton Notre Dame 59-35 at the OFSAA quad-A girls basketball tournament in Belle River.

Alex Klein added 15 points for the No. 4 Vikings, who'll face No. 7 Toronto Northern in their next game. The winner moves on while the loser is finished.

I'm keeping an eye on the other OFSAA tournaments involving local teams that are currently taking place in Hamilton and Manitoulin Island.

 * * *

WCSSAA's seasonal committee has a approved a request from Waterloo-Oxford to have the first senior boys basketball league game pushed back until the new year because the volleyball team is participating at OFSAA.

The Dec. 1 junior and senior games against  Glenview Park have been moved to Jan. 10.

 

Great result for St. Mary's golfer

 

Keaton Jones shot a spectacular second round on his way to winning the  Maple Leaf Junior Golt Tour's final event of the season in Orlando, Fla., last weekend.

The  St.  Mary's student shot rounds of 75-68 to win the MJT Boston Pizza National Tour Championship at the par-72 ChampionsGate Golf  Club.

Jones earned a pair entry into an American Junior  Golf Association tournament next year.

* * *

Here's the drawsheet for the 28th instalment of the Heinbuch Classic senior boys basketball tournament that will be held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at St. Mary's and Huron Heights.

 

Renegades, Trojans get high seeds

The Grand River Renegades have been given the No. 3 seed for the OFSAA quad-A boys volleyball tournament while the Forest Heights Trojans are ranked fifth of 16 entries.

The Renegades are in a pool with No. 8 Uxbridge, No. 9 Innisdale and No. 14 Westmount, while the Trojans are in a pool with No. 2 St. Michael’s College of Toronto, No. 12 R.H. King of Scarborough and No. 15 Georgetown.

Bill Crothers of Unionville is the No. 1 seed, while Windsor Holy Names is No. 4.

The gold-medal match is at 6:30 p.m. at Bishop Tonnos.

The Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders have been given the No. 9 seed for the 20-team OFSAA triple-A tournament that will also be staged in Hamilton. The Crusaders are in a pool with No. 3 Beatrice-Desloges of Orleans, No. 8 Milton,  No. 14 Kingston Collegiate, and No. 19 Applewood  Heights of Mississauga.

The gold-medal match is at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Bishop Tonnos.

Woodland Christian No. 3 at the 20-team single-A tournament in Manitoulin Island and is in a pool with No. 7 Manitoulin, No. 10 Marc Garneau of Toronto, No. 13 Redeemer Christian of Ottawa and No. 17 Stayner.

The gold-medal game is Saturday afternoon.

In girls basketball, the Waterloo Vikings have been given the No. 4 seed at the OFSAA quad-A tournament in Belle River and will face No. 10 Notre Dame Burlington on Thursday morning.

The gold-medal game is at 4 p.m. at St. Anne Catholic High School.

 * * *

Michelle Hudyn of Eastwood and Lindsay Lessard of Waterloo Collegiate have been named co-MVPs of the Waterloo County senior girls basketball league.

The league also announced on Tuesday that the league’s annual all-star game will be played next Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Bluevale Collegiate.

Hudyn and Lessard will be at the game, along with first-team selections Liz McLellan (CHCI), Lindsey Taylor (WCI), Blair McNaughton (FHCI), Kirsten Leach (PHS), and Natalie Bishop (BCI).

Second-team honours went to Taylor Dennis (JHSS), Julia Pavlik (WCI), Alex Klein (WCI), Krista Wiens (EDSS), and Nikea Worrell (PHS).

Honourable mentions went to Nicole Barnard (SSS), Brooklyn Wright (JHSS), Sarah Hamm (BCI), Lindsay Ward (ECI), Jessica Reichard (EDSS), Ashley White (PHS), Malena McCrossan-Moses (SJAM), Kailey Deboer (GRCI), Alyssa Goodridge (GPSS), Emily Bidinosti (HHSS) and Milica Stevanovic (GCI).

The all-star game tips off at 6 p.m. with all money raised going to Kate’s Kause to build an all-accessible playground in Elmira. Admission is $5.

Highlanders fall in CWOSSA semi

WATERLOO – The Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders are disappointed their season is over but are not disappointed with their season.

The Waterloo County champions bowed out of the Central Western Ontario playoffs on Saturday night, dropping a 26-21 decision to Brantford’s Assumption College Lions at University Stadium. The Lions advance to the CWOSSA final against Guelph’s J.F. Ross Royals while the Highlanders fell short of their pre-season goal of reaching the Western Bowl championship game in Toronto later this month.

Anthony Powless snared a five-yard touchdown pass with 1:41 left in the game to give the Lions a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in a back-and-forth game that was played in intermittent rain.

“It’s disappointing but I’m really proud of my teammates for getting this far,” said Highlanders linebacker Andrew McWhinnie.

“We were never favoured to win or get this far but the guys came together and we played as a team. . . .  I mean it was only a five-point game and we could definitely have won it.”

The full story will be available Sunday on The Record website.

 

Alderson signs pro contract

 

Huge props to former St. Mary's student Bryce  Alderson, who has signed a Major League Soccer contract with Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Alderson last played with the Eagles in the spring of 2010 before hooking up with the Whitecaps residency program in September of the same year.

* * *

It's been a great week to be a Crusader.

Waterloo-0xford athletes captured three titles in a span of 24 hours, starting on Wednesday with a Waterloo County junior girls basketball title and a CWOSSA triple-A senior boys volleyball title.

On Thursday, the Crusaders captured the CWOSSA junior boys volleyball title.

The medal frenzy could continue this week and next as the junior girls go for CWOSSA gold and the senior boys compete at OFSAA.

Well done.

* * *

 

 

Renegades, Trojans going to OFSAA

No big surprises at CWOSAA senior boys quad-A volleyball championship as Grand River and Forest Heights advance to final with straight set wins on Thursday.

Both teams are going to OFSAA.