TASSS Griffins win COSSA AAA junior girls rugby championship

Some last minute heroics carried the Thomas A. Stewart Griffins to a COSSA AAA junior girls rugby title.

Deanna Dunford scored a try in the final minute to propel TASSS past the host I.E. Weldon Wildcats 12-10 in Lindsay on Friday afternoon. It avenged a 30-20 loss to Weldon in the Kawartha final.

The Griffins took an early lead on an Emma Canning try converted by Luci Taylor but two unconverted tries put Weldon ahead.

“Eighty per cent of our girls were brand new to rugby this year,” said Griffins coach Lauryn Bons, a Trent Excalibur varsity player in the concurrent education program who is on placement at TASSS. “A lot of them were in Grade 10 and didn’t play last year. We struggled at the start of the season trying to get everybody up to speed. To pull off two very close, tight wins today was very cool.”

It was the third meeting between the two teams this year. The Griffins won their regular season match.

“We knew Weldon was a very physical team and what the weather conditions were going to be like today,” Bons said.

“We planned to play a very tight game with everything in close. We ended up sucking them in tight right around the breakdown in that last minute. We called for our backs to swing the ball wide and we ended up scoring.”

It was only two years ago Bons won the same trophy playing with Trenton.

“To win it today as a coach was pretty cool,” she said.

The Griffins defeated St. Theresa 10-7 in semifinals on a pair of tries by Jeri Dixon, who is a cousin of former national team player Hannah Darling. The Wildcats beat Trenton 24-0 in the other semi.

At the COSSA A/AA junior girls rugby playoffs in Belleville, the Holy Cross Hurricanes suffered their first loss within COSSA or Kawartha in three years falling 14-0 to the Centennial Chargers in the final.

“Centennial is a very strong team and very well coached with Peter Hercus who is coach of the Trent women’s team,” said Holy Cross coach Jake Fowler.

“We’re a young junior team so that’s good for next year and we’ve had a ton of injuries this year but the girls played with a ton of heart today.

“I told the girls at the end of these types of games as long as you leave everything on the field and you play with no regrets, you can only be proud. They left nothing on that field.”

The Hurricanes beat Bayside 20-12 in the semifinals while Centennial defeated the Adam Scott Lions. A score was unavailable.

Boys soccer

Cobourg’s St. Mary Thunder won the COSSA AA senior boys soccer title beating the Adam Scott Lions 8-1 in Friday’s final in Cobourg.

Adam Scott defeated Prince Edward 2-1 in semifinals while St. Mary thumped Centennial

7-0.

Junior scores were not available. The AAA tournament will be played Monday in Belleville.