High School Sports blog

One week to go

Congratulations to all the teams and individuals who will compete at the various Ontario championships this week. It's an amazing achievement to make it this far.

So to save you a few minutes, I've compiled a list of schools still in the hunt for OFSSA gold.

Bluevale opens the AAA/AAAA boys rugby tournament tomorrow in Hamilton. The Knights are seeded eighth in the 16-team event and will open against Malvern at 2 p.m. at the Mohawk Sports Park.

In boys soccer, the St. Mary's Eagles have been given the No. 6 seed and will open the 16-team AAAA event on Thursday at 11 a.m. against Brebeuf College at St. Michael's College in Toronto.

The unseeded St. David Celtics will take part in the AAA tournament in Lasalle, opening against Windsor Riverside on Thursday. Rockway Mennonite is at the A tournament in London and will face Ottawa's Ashbury College in their opener on Thursday.

In girls soccer, a pair of local squads are taking part in the AAAA tournament in Niagara Falls, with the St. Mary's Eagles opening against Toronto St. Patrick  and the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders taking on London Mother Teresa. 

Southwood is at the AAA tourney in Ottawa and will open against London Catholic Central. Rockway Mennonite is at the A event in Smithville and will take on ESC Nouvelle Alliance in their opener.

Meanwhile, a large number of local athletes will be at the OFSSA track and field championships which run Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. 

Comments deleted due to offensive nature of the discussion re soccer brawl

A comment was just received asking Mark Bryson why he deleted most of the comments regarding the soccer brawl.

Mark did not delete them. He's been covering the track meet at Resurrection all day. I deleted them -- Karlo Berkovich, Associate Editor-Online Content at the Waterloo Region Record. I am responsible for and monitor what appears on www.therecord.com

The reason the comments have been deleted: this blog is hugely successful and we all appreciate how it has grown into a high school discussion and news forum. You, the readers and users of this blog are contributors to that in addition to the reporters who have contributed their time and efforts to it.

However, this issue, the soccer brawl, resulted in a devolving of this blog into immature name-calling, profanity, ethnic slurs, misogyny and xenophobic comments. That sort of discourse -- that went way beyond the natural back-and-forth of healthy school rivalries -- will not be tolerated here.

If you want to talk sports, you are more than welcome, whether it be on games, personalities or sporting issues. We encourage that. This is your forum. But if you are going to engage in behaviour such as I describe above, this blog is not the place for you.

Let's enjoy sports, revel and participate in your rivalries, enjoy and contribute to the discussion -- but let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

Karlo Berkovich
Associate Editor-Online Content
Waterloo Region Record

Back to the track

Heading back to Rez today for Day 2 of the Ontario West track and field championships. The top-four finishers in each event will earn spots at next week's Ontario championships in Toronto.

A number of local athletes qualified yesterday, including first-place finishes by Aliya Roga of St. David in the midget girls 1,500-metre race. 

The talented young runner was a favourite to win the 400-metre race as well, but she withdrew because that  event was scheduled to be held 15 minutes after the 1,500-metre race. She'll compete in the 800-metre race today and is also a member of the Celtics' 4 x 100-metre relay team.

It was also a big day for midget boys pole vaulter Nik Hoediono, who set a meet record by clearing 3.50 metres. 

Galt's 4x100-metre senior boys relay squad also looked strong, winning the event in 44.11 seconds. Jake Arnoldi, Kevin Simpson, Andy Lau and Scott Campbell could be the team to beat at OFSSA.

Waterloo-Oxford's Trevor Zister won the junior boys 100-metre hurdles in 14.49 seconds and Cameron Heights' Mitchell O'Donnell took top spot in the midget boys 100-metre hurdles.

Here's the link for full results:

http://www.sportclix.com/guelphtrack/regionalindex9.html

The day after

A few thoughts on Thursday's brawl.

First off, there's been a lot of back-and-forth banter about the styles of games played by both Sir John A. Macdonald and Eastwood. So since you didn't ask, here's my take.

SJAM is a lunch-bucket squad of hard workers who most definitely play a physical game. Players don't hesitate to lean into their opponents and they certainly don't back down. Having said that, there's obviously a certain amount of skill or they wouldn't have made it to the Waterloo County final.

And no one can dispute that they won Thursday's game by a 2-0 score and earned their spot in the CWOSSA final before all the nonsense took place. They definitely used size to their advantage against the Rebels and played the kind of game they had to if they were to stand a chance. 

SJAM coach Antero Da Silva was right though. Had they been playing a dirty game, the referees would have been all over them. I talked to the officials at length after the game and they  said they saw nothing out of the ordinary.

As for the Rebels, a team I have seen play on a number of occasions this year, they are certainly not a dirty team. Not even close. I'd actually say they play the nicest brand of soccer I've seen, and that includes the CWOSSA champion St. Mary's Eagles. 

None of it matters now though. Both teams will be remembered for the brawl, not what they did leading up to it.

* * *

Still with the brawl, Eastwood principal Nancy Strobel says the referees got it wrong. Video evidence shows that neither Arish Yousufi or Omar Sanaie were involved in the initial kicking incident that led to the scrap, Strobel said. 

An e-mailer supports her claim and said he'll show me the video.

• • •

The St. David Celtics have earned a spot at the OFSAA senior boys soccer championship in Windsor. The event runs June 4-6 at Mic Mac Park.

* * *

The Bluevale Knights  dropped a 15-14 heartbreaker to Brantford  St. John's College Green Eagles in the championship game of the CWOSSA senior boys rugby tournament this afternoon.

Jeff Hicks was there for the game and will have a story filed for Saturday's paper.

Both teams will advance to next week's Ontario championships in Hamilton.

Highlanders pulled, Eagles champs

The Central Western Ontario soccer crown has been handed directly to the St. Mary's Eagles because of an ugly incident in a semifinal matchup between the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders and Eastwood Rebels.

With time running out and SJAM leading Eastwood 2-0, a brawl erupted after an SJAM player was kicked during a sideline pileup. Punches were thrown as players from both teams became involved. 

SJAM was pulled from the tournament as a result of the incident. The abandoned game went into the books as a 2-0 win for SJAM.

St. Mary's had reached the final with a 5-3 win over the Forest Heights Trojans.

* * *

The CWOSSA senior boys rugby final scheduled for today at 5 p.m. between the Bluevale Knights and St. John's College of Brantford has been postponed until tomorrow because of pending thunderstorms.

The senior final will now be held at the Brantford Harlequins Club's main pitch at 2 p.m., with the junior final to follow at 3 p.m.

* * *

SJAM and St. Mary's will play for the CWOSSA girls title today at  10 a.m. at St. David. Bad weather prevented the tournament  from wrapping up yesterday.

Both squads have qualified for  OFSSA.

* * *

Southwood won the AAA girls soccer tourney today at Budd Park with a 2-1 win over Brantford. Scoring details aren't currently available..

Eagles, Rebels looking good

The semifinals are set at the Central Western Ontario quad-A soccer championships at Bechtel Park in Waterloo.

The District 8 champion St. Mary's Eagles will face the Forest Heights Trojans in one semi, while the Waterloo County champion Eastwood Rebels will take on Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders in the other.

St. Marys and Eastwood both opened the tourney today with two victories, while Forest Heights and SJAM both had a win and a loss. Eastwood beat Forest Heights 2-0 in an afternoon contest and St. Mary's beat SJAM 4-0 in another late game. Guelph's two entries -- Guelph Collegiate and Centennial -- are both out after two straight losses.

Tomorrow's semifinals are set for 9:30 a.m. with the final to be played at 1:30 p.m.

* * *

At the CWOSSA senior boys AAA-AAAA rugby tournament in Brantford,  the Bluevale Knights will face the St. John's College Green Eagles in today's final.

Bluevale beat Brantford Collegiate 20-5 in a semifinal game today after eliminating Forest Heights 24-12 in quarter-final play.

WCI was ousted after falling 15-5 to Guelph's J.F. Ross.

Don't count out the Trojans

A pair of Forest Heights squads might consider a name change when they compete in Central Western Ontario championship tournaments this week.

Goodbye Trojans. Hello Dark Horses.

Both the senior boys rugby squad and boys soccer team will be legitimate threats to take top honours although neither reached Waterloo County championship games. The rugby Trojans lost to WCI in semifinal play, while the soccer squad fell to Sir John A. Macdonald in the semis. Both decisions would have to be called upsets when you consider the rugby squad got the better of WCSSAA champion Bluevale during the regular season and the soccer squad outplayed WCSSAA champion Eastwood in a regular-season tie.

Both teams took the backdoor route to reach the CWOSSA championships.

On the rugby side, we'll find out very early in the tournament whether the Trojans are a team to be feared as they take on Bluevale in their first game in Brantford tomorrow. 

The soccer Trojans take on Guelph Collegiate in the opening game of the CWOSSA tourney at Bechtel Park and take on Eastwood later in the day.

* * *

Rez coaching legend Ivan Persin wasn't ready to look back on his career after Monday's 2-1 loss to St. Mary's in the District 8 boys soccer championship. 

Despite the result, he was still just enjoying the moment.

"It probably won't hit me until September, when we roll back into school and I'm going to be on the golf course," he said with a laugh.

* * *

I'll be heading out to Guelph shortly to see what's going on at the CWOSSA quad-A girls soccer tourney, which features local squads from Forest Heights, SJAM, Bluevale and St. Mary's.

Down to the wire

Another hectic week ahead with soccer and rugby seasons hitting the home stretch.

First off was today's District 8 boys soccer championship at Bechtel Park, where the St. Mary's Eagles scored a 2-1 win over the  Resurrection Phoenix. A second-half goal by Shaquille Mayers was the difference.

The Eagles played without talented striker Anthony Matarazzo, who sat out after collecting his third yellow card of the season in his last outing. 

The game was Ivan Persin's final game as Rez coach. Persin will retire from teaching at the end of the school year.

St. Mary's will now move on to  this week's quad-A tourney in Waterloo, joining Eastwood, Sir John A. Macdonald and possibly Forest Heights from the Waterloo County league.

The boys triple-A CWOSSA tourney goes this week in Brantford. Elmira, St. David and Jacob Hespeler are the local representatives.

* * *

After today, it's a matter of trying to cover as many events as possible.

First up are the girls soccer championships which open tomorrow and end Thursday in Guelph and Cambridge.

Waterloo Region will have  four teams competing  in the quad-A event at Centennial in the Royal  City. WCSSAA reps Forest Heights, Bluevale and Sir John A. Macdonald will be joined  by D8  champs St. Mary's.

Preston hosts the triple-A tourney with Southwood, KCI and St. David participating.

* * *

The boys triple-A/quad-A rugby tournament goes Wednesday and Thursday in Brantford with Forest Heights, WCI and Bluevale competing in hopes of taking it to the June 3-5 Ontario championships in Hamilton.

* * *

Guelph Centennial beat Grey Highlands 19-12 today to win the CWOSSA girls rugby championship at Preston. Forest Heights and Waterloo-Oxford fell during the semifinals.

* * *

On Friday and Saturday, it's the Ontario West track and field championships at Rez. 

Waterloo Region deserves better

Rachel Lorimer of Rez clears a hurdle during Thursday's senior girls 400-metre event. The Central Western Ontario championships  were held at Rez.

* * *

Waterloo Region's track and field community is in need of a leader, someone who will fight tirelessly until this area has a first-rate facility for young athletes to enjoy.

The past few weeks have clearly shown that Resurrection is only a Band-Aid fix. While both the Waterloo County and Central Western Ontario championships went off without any major glitches, the facility was simply not designed to handle events of such magnitude. 

Just look at this week's CWOSSA event. Athletes couldn't escape the scorching sun. Restroom lineups -- especially  for the girls -- were ridiculous. Motorists -- including reporters -- were forced to walk long distances to even reach the venue.

And at last week's WCSSAA event, Rez's gymnasium was needed to provide shelter during a morning of heavy rain. 

Rez, though, isn't the problem.

The problem is whether anyone is doing anything about the sorry state of affairs at Centennial Stadium. Since it was deemed unfit and unsafe to use in early April, we haven't heard a thing about what, if anything, is being done to rectify the situation. All we've heard is complaining

Young athletes deserve better and we can only hope that a long-term solution is being worked on behind the scenes. Just imagine if this was a hockey issue. Do you think it would have gotten this far?

Where is that leader? 

* * *

Why are people having such a difficult time finding Christine Rivet's article on the WCSSAA rugby championship?

Here it is, as it appears on Page C2 of today's Record.

http://news.therecord.com/article/540883

* * *

And for you ML, here's the soccer story you somehow missed.

http://news.therecord.com/article/540885

* * *

Just got back from the District 8 girls soccer final, which St. Mary's won 2-0 over Rez. It was the first time St. Mary's has won the title in school history. 

Anyone who thinks these girls aren't tough should have seen the collision between Rez goalkeeper Becca Stephens' face and a goalpost.

Nasty.

Ten or so minutes later, with a badly swollen lip, the Grade 9 student was back in action. This  picture, snapped  by  Mathew McCarthy, was taken after  her return.

* * *

The Cameron Heights Disc Ninjas -- I'm not making that up -- will be will be participating in the annual MayDay Ultimate Frisbee tournament at RIM Park today.

Led by Adam Andenmann, Jack MacDonald, Kyle Frederick, Alex Austin and Andrea Fischer, the  co-ed squad will be one of the teams to beat as it goes up against the likes of KCI, SJAM and Galt.

The goal for this sport is to one day be considered for entry into WCSSAA.

* * *

Talk about bad luck.

That would be SJAM student Cam Greer, who returned for a fifth year of studies largely to participate in sports.

Greer suffered a shoulder injury during football season, an Achille's tear during hockey season and blew out his knee during soccer season.

On Thursday, he served as team photographer as he watched soccer teammates fall to  Eastwood in the senior final. 

It can only get better, Cam.

Back from track

Marvin Muschette of Resurrection put on a great show this morning in the senior boys triple jump competition at the Waterloo County track and field championships.

The Grade 11 student blew away the competition with a jump of 14.36 metres and will be a serious threat for Ontario gold next month in Toronto. 

I'll be writing about Marvin for tomorrow's paper.

For more on the meet, visit http://www.knh.bwdsb.on.ca/teachers/mr_luinstra/cwossatf

* * *

A couple thoughts on girls rugby.

First off, you've got to give credit to the  Forest Heights Trojans for fighting back and giving the Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders all they could handle in yesterday's Waterloo County final. The Trojans fell 12-10, but were able to prove that this wasn't a one-team league.

Over in District 8 though, another year and another Resurrection victory over St. Mary's. That's six years and counting. Don't expect anything different next year either. The problem, of course, is District 8 has only four schools competing in girls rugby. And four teams does not a league make.

Don't blame the  coaches or players, but unless another two or three schools join the D8 girls rugby circuit, it should be swallowed by WCSSAA.

* * *

I'll be covering the senior boys  soccer final  today between the  favoured Eastwood Rebels and the surprising SJAM Highlanders, while Christine Rivet will take in the  senior boys rugby clash between WCI and Bluevale.