Kenner Rams bring home silver from OFSAA hoops championship
After going 23 years between OFSAA boys basketball medals, Peterborough schools have now done it in back-to-back years.
The Kenner Rams brought home OFSAA A silver medals following their 62-47 loss to Belleville’s Nicholson Crusaders on Wednesday night in Welland. It’s the best result by a Peterborough school since the Peterborough Collegiate Raiders won the gold medal in 1999 and comes on the heels of the Adam Scott Lions OFSAA AA bronze medal last year.
The final was a rematch of the COSSA final which Kenner won 64-61 but this time Nicholson turned the tables. Kenner improved on their fourth place finish at OFSAA last year and had a 24-2 overall record.
“I’m definitely really proud to represent Kenner and Peterborough and prove how good we are especially since last year we took fourth,” said Rams Grade 12 player Isaac Griffin. “We were really hoping to take home top three and this year we were able to do it and finish in second place. It also shows how good our district is because the two teams who played for the COSSA tournament to see who qualifies for OFSAA ended up playing in the final in a rematch. On the one hand I am disappointed obviously with the loss but it is history.”
Fred Blowes, who coached Kenner with Jamie Hutchinson, Will Seeley and Sean Quinlan, said they had to overcome 10-point and eight-point deficits in hard-fought semifinal and quarter-final victories and, along with a couple of injuries and illness, it caught up to them in the final.
“That took a lot out of us,” said Blowes. “All the credit goes to Nicholson. They played a great game. We just couldn’t finish on a lot of our plays and were a little banged up. We’re so proud of these guys. It was an outstanding season. We finished No. 2 in the province which is pretty darned good.
“We had a lot of fight in us. The quarter-final against Mitchell we were down going into the fourth quarter and fought back to win in a real physical game. We turned around and played Oshawa’s Pereyma in another physical game and were behind again in the fourth quarter in the final two minutes and pulled it out.”
Nicholson led by five at halftime and Kenner couldn’t close the gap.
“Sometimes when you play that third game against a team you’ve beaten twice in the last two years anything can happen,” said Blowes. “You really get to know each other and your strengths and weaknesses. They executed better than we did.”
“It’s an outstanding accomplishment for our boys and the Peterborough basketball community,” said Hutchinson. “We had a tremendous season. They came to practice every day and worked hard and did all the right things. Unfortunately, that’s the way life goes sometimes. You don’t always win and you come in second despite your best effort. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We’re really proud of them.”
Landon Whiting led Kenner with 15 points while Kaveh Jalalai-Sohi added 10 and Matthew Kathiravelu nine.
Griffin said it was sad to know a lot of the players won’t play together again.
“Quite a few of us are in Grade 12 and a few were taking an extra year,” he said. “A lot of us were on the team last year and went to OFSAA two times in a row. That’s a lot of memories. It was hard. A lot of our coaches have been with us since day one supporting us and making sure we were getting everything we need. It’s sad to be leaving them. I know next year we’ll still have a good team and all of us will be cheering them on.”
‘‘ We had a tremendous season. They came to practice every day and worked hard and did all the right things. Unfortunately, that’s the way life goes sometimes.
JAMIE HUTCHINSON COACH