Royals bump Raiders from CWOSSA rugby title
CAMBRIDGE — The KCI Raiders ran into the wrong team at the wrong time.
The Waterloo County champions were eliminated from the Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) girls’ rugby championship Wednesday when they dropped a 19-8 decision to Guelph’s John F. Ross Royals in a semifinal meeting at Preston High School. The Royals will face the Brantford Collegiate Mustangs in Friday’s 1 p.m. final, thanks to the Mustangs’ 26-0 win over the Owen Sound DSS Wolves in the other semifinal.
Both finalists move on to next week’s Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship. John F. Ross is the reigning OFSAA champion and is trying to win its third straight CWOSSA title, having beaten KCI the past two years.
Teams were not seeded for the CWOSSA tournament so KCI, which earlier in the day blanked Waterloo Collegiate 32-0, had to beat John F. Ross to reach the final because the two powerhouses were in the same pool. The two pools are predetermined on a year-by-year basis. Brantford dropped the Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders, 22-0, in its opener and Owen Sound beat WaterlooOxford, 3-0. John F. Ross crushed WCI, 68-0, in its first game.
Meanwhile, the WCSSAA senior and junior boys’ rugby finals are slated for Thursday at WCI. Sir John A. Macdonald takes on KCI in the junior final at 3:15 p.m., followed by WCI and SJAM in the senior championship at 4:30 p.m.
In soccer, the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders are in the hunt to reach the CWOSSA senior boys’ soccer championship after scoring a 2-1 win over the Eastwood Rebels in a WCSSAA third-place game Wednesday. SJAM will travel to Owen Sound on Thursday to face the Wolves in a CWOSSA play-in game.
The Grand River Renegades can reach the CWOSSA girls’ soccer championship after scoring an 8-0 win over the Preston Panthers in another third-place game. Preston hosts Owen Sound in a play-in game Thursday.
The District 8 and WCSSAA soccer finals will be played Thursday.
The Resurrection Phoenix and St. David Celtics will meet at 4 p.m. in the D8 boys’ and girls’ finals at Woodside Park. The WCSSAA boys’ final between the Bluevale Knights and Cameron Heights Golden Gaels is a 3 p.m. start at RIM Park, the same time and location as the girls’ final between Cameron Heights and WCI.