Hoping to prove their mettle with medals
Three Niagara teams in boys hoops, one in girls V-ball competing at OFSAA
Ontario high school championships in boys basketball and girls volleyball get underway Monday and four teams from the Niagara region hope to be among the medallists when they wrap up two days later.
Three teams from the region want to net the top prize in hoops at provincial tournaments taking place in Ancaster, Ottawa, and Welland, while the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs, Niagara’s lone entry in girls volleyball, are competing at double-A championships in Sydenham, Ont., north of Kingston. The defending double-A champion Saint Francis Phoenix are in the nation’s capital seeking their second Ontario Federation of School Athletics Association (OFSAA) championship in as many years and their third since 2015. Saint Francis, the top seed in the field of 20, tips off the three-day tournament at 10 a.m. Monday against 19th seed from Thunder Bay. The Phoenix will play their second game at 8 p.m. Monday, should they lose, or at noon Tuesday following a win. Dundas Valley, which beat the host Governor Simcoe Redcoats in a challenge game last Monday in St. Catharines, is the second entry from the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association (SOSSA) and is seeded 18th. McKinnon Park from Caledonia is the 11th seed. Besides Saint Francis, three other high schools in Niagara have captured boys double-A basketball championships: Niagara District, 1979; E.L. Crossley, 1978; Welland High, 1976. Niagara District and Welland High have since closed.
At Ancaster, the host Saltfleet Storm are seeded third in a field of 18 at the triple-A championships with the Eden Flyers from St. Cath
arines the No. 12 seed as the second entry from SOSSA. Eden opens against Windsor Holy Names, the second seed, at 2 p.m. on Monday. The Flyers’ second game will either be 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, should they win, or 9 a.m. Tuesday, in the event of a loss. Simcoe, in 1978; Stamford, 1975; are the last boys triple-A boys basketball champions from the Niagara region.
The host Saint-Jean-de-Brebeuf Lynx hope to make the most of home-court advantage at the boys single-A basketball championships in Welland. The Lynx are seeded 16th in a field of 20, and the Hamilton District Christian Knights, who defeated the Smithville Christian Storm for the SOSSA championship, are the 15th seed. Brebeuf tips off the three-day tournament at home against sixth-seeded Timmins High at 9 a.m. Monday. A loss would send them to a 2 p.m. game against either Ottawa Notre Dame (3) or Oshawa Monsignor J. Pereyma (17) at Niagara College, while a win would have the Lynx back on the court 9 a.m. Tuesday versus either Sault Ste. Marie White Pines Collegiate (9) or Atikokan Northern Lakes (11). E.J. Lejeunesse, the defending champion from Windsor, is the top seed at a tournament that also will have games taking place at Franco-Niagara, formerly Confederation, as well as on two courts at Niagara College’s main campus in Welland. On Wednesday, the competition wraps up with a championship doubleheader at Brebeuf. The bronze medal game gets underway at 4 p.m. and the final at 6 p.m. The last single-A gold medallist from the Niagara region is Ridley College in 2015. The former Monsignor Clancy, in 1995; Niagara District, 1985; Port Colborne, 1983; Pelham District, 1973, 1969; Niagara Falls Collegiate, 1962-63, 1951-53; also went all the way after capturing the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championship.
Churchill is the fifth seed at the 20-team double-A girls volleyball championship. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play three round-robin matches, all best-of-three, on Day 1 of the three-day competition: 9 a.m., Richmond Hill Holy Trinity, 15th seed; noon, Cobourg St. Mary, 12th seed; 3 p.m., Oakville T.A. Blakelock, second seed. On Tuesday, Churchill faces the 18th-seeded O’Gorman from Timmins at 11:30 a.m. to wrap up pool play. Crossley, 2019; Eden, 2015; Simcoe, 2007; are the girls double-A championships from the Niagara region. Jean Vanier, now Brebeuf, took a single-A title in 2008 and the former Merritton High won it all in 1984.