Eastwood is to soccer what Grand River was (is?) to hockey

There's something about the Rebels football program that has kids excited.

I'm certainly not talking about their fall football team but it's the spring soccer that has those in Grade seven and eight buzzing.

Today Eastwood CI capped another perfect season by winning the Waterloo County title over Forest Heights, 4-3. It is the Rebs' sixth championship in the past seven years, and along with it, more attention.

Consider this: junior high students ready to jump into high school have a choice -- which school to attend.

They here a lot about the schools in their area but also those of interest for student activities. Obviously Eastwood rules for soccer so naturally the soccer players, especially the good ones, are drawn to a school with a soccer reputation. Remember, rep is everything at this age.

It's no wonder year after year Eastwood attracts the best soccer talent in WCSSAA. They're the leaders right now -- just look at their banners.

It reminds me of when Grand River was the hockey authority at the HS level. Championships, banners, big name tournaments, trips to OFSAA, etc. They had it all. And for a majority of the time, they got the best players to their school. It was a program.

Things have changed in hockey where there are more than a few 'programs' that the best players have to chose from.

But for right now, Eastwood is enjoying its perch atop the soccer schools. And expect them to continue to attract the best talent.

Meanwhile, Christine Rivet of The Record went with the whole 'they were banned from CWOSSA' angle: Rebels win thriller but won’t advance.

RUGBY: Highlanders to face Knights

Today's semi-final scores...

Bluevale 7, Waterloo 3
WCI - Jarrah Hall 3
BCI - Scorers Unavailable

Sir John A. Macdonald 28, Preston 5
Mac Forristal 5, Andrew McWhinnie 5, Scott Breadner 10, Brian Reiter 8
PHS - Abe Upshaw 5

FINAL: another Battle of Waterloo on Wednesday night at Centennial Stadium. Junior game is at 3:45 p.m. and the seniors play after (appx. 5 p.m.).

In junior, Forest Heights beat Bluevale 17-12. Other score unreported.

RUGBY: Game of the year...?

Knights vs. Vikings
Monday afternoon

Thoughts on this game? Predictions? Additional commentary?

UPDATE: I've read a lot of comments and will make a pair of picks. I like SJAM to end Preston's run. Final 17-5. And I will creep to the limb and pick Waterloo in the upset over the defending champion Knights. WCI 5-0.

RUGBY: Vote now

RUGBY: Highlanders tase Celtics

Score of the day in Waterloo: Sir John A. Macdonald 84, St. David 0 (F)

In senior boys rugby it was SJAM all over the Celtics. It does appear like SJAM went deep into the bench with a whopping 13 different scorers.

Thoughts on the game? Sportsmanship?

RUGBY: Scores 4/27

JUNIOR BOYS
Preston 22, St. Mary's 14
PHS - Wesley Meertens 12, Austin Nelles 5, Campbell Stahlbaum 5
SMHS - Matt Fuller 9, Jay Johnston 5

Bluevale 41, Cameron Heights 0
BCI - Ian Carlaw 5, Kyle Ellis - 15, Patrick Hodgson - 5, Andrew Wildfang - 5, Zach Hupman - 5, Matt Martin - 6

Forest Heights 27, KCI 5
FHCI - Wade Hackett 15, Joel O'Reilly 5, Donald Davis 7
KCI - Robin Wheeler 5

Grand River 0, Southwood 0

SENIOR BOYS
KCI 17, Forest Heights 10
FHCI - Josh Falkenstern 5, Troy Peters 5
KCI - Greg Bolger 5, Chris Meyer 5, Nathan Hall 5, Kent Bowra 2

Bluevale 41, Cameron Heights 0
BCI - Mark Jamiesin -5, Colin Bolzon - 5, John Springett - 5, Jeff Dinsmore - 10, Kody Ellis - 5, Ian Dubrick - 5, Taylor Gfroerer - 6

Preston 10, St. Mary's 7
PHS - Abe Upshaw 5, Brandon Phillips 5
SMHS - Dominic Soura 5, Dustin Ruttan 2

Grand River 30, St. David 0
GRCI - Devon Dupuis 10, Andrew Frey 5, Alex Ritz 5, Sebastian Toplician 5, Curtis Schmalz 5

Waterloo 0, Sir John A. Macdonald 0

Missing a couple scores...

RUGBY: Open thread

Give me your thoughts on the upcoming season.

Who's the team(s) to beat -- junior and senior? Top players?

Whatever is on your mind, throw it in the comments.

ALUMNI: Oliver's Lancers head to CIS

University of Windsor basketball coach Chris Oliver (Grand River, 1992) is excited for what his team will face this weekend.

In his fifth season with the Lancers, Oliver enters the CIS Final 8 for the second time and is eager to begin the national championship on Friday against the fifth-seeded Canada West champion Saskatchewan Huskies.

"We're looking forward to the opportunity and challenge of playing the best teams in the CIS starting with Saskatchewan," said Oliver. "Both teams have had a great end of season stretch and are talented offensively."

The Lancers were awarded the tournament's fourth seed as runners-up to OUA champion Carleton. Windsor went 17-5 in the regular season and knocked off Wilfrid Laurier and Lakehead Universities to qualify for the Final 8.

"We have had a great year and I am proud of the progress our team has made," said Oliver. "The ultimate goal is still ahead of us so we are excited for the game ahead."

※ ※ ※

Oliver, a Grand River grad, was awarded the school's top athlete honour in 1992 and credits some of the area's great sports and coaching influences including "Bill Hooks, Mark Medensky, John Zdrahal, Dave McNeil, Craig Nickel and so many others."

He also noted Waterloo Region was a hotbed of basketball.

"Waterloo was a powerhouse program with so many great players," said Oliver. "As well as watching St Jerome's CHS and their success with Alex Urosevic and Tom Kieswetter."

RUGBY: Windsor resigns from Laurier

Huron Heights' teacher-coach Josh Windsor has had enough with Wilfrid Laurier University administration.

The rugby coach of the senior boys Huskies' team resigned from his head coaching position at WLU and has since joined the University of Waterloo.

Windsor, formerly at Preston, cited a lack of support from university administration as reason one on why he stepped down.

He was disappointed with the constant funding cuts, a proposal to move the team to Laurier Brantford and an overall indifference towards to team, ranking them 19th out of 21 Golden Hawk teams.

Windsor told The Record: “Laurier is doing itself a huge disservice. Athletics have been that school’s forte for a long time. (Support from administration for athletics) is what students are looking for when they go there.”

He will coach the Huskies seniors in the spring and join up with the Waterloo Warriors in the fall.

Waterloo's sports teams are funded by student fees and fundraising, keeping them immune to administration cutbacks.

For more, see:
TheRecord.com: Laurier loses its rugby coach.
Warrior athletics: Familiar face to take the helm of men’s rugby program.

VIDEO: Dover likes his KFC, HDTV

Now we understand people get bored over March Break. 11:00 a.m. re-runs of the Price is Right don't cut it after a while so we thought we'd bring you some more WCSSAA video humour.

Back in December we brought you SJAM's Backstreet Boys belting out 'Larger than Life'.

Today, we have Coach Dover of Forest Heights giving us the tour of his home in this 'MTV Cribs' style parody.



There you have it, a tour of Mr. Dover's house. The junior football and track & field coach clearly has a sense of humour. Good for him to have the guts to allow students to film his house, especially ones who know how to edit.

Hope everyone has a good March Break. Story suggestions are always welcomed by comment or email.

VOLLEYBALL: Forest Heights highlights

Some pre-OFSAA highlights of the now quad-A provincial champion Forest Heights Collegiate Trojans...



Very cool. That OFSAA champion's banner is going to look great next to all the WCSSAA and CWOSSA ones.

BASKETBALL: Cvrkalj 'stood out' at OFSAA

Despite only getting to showcase his skills in two games at quad-A OFSAA in Oshawa this past week, Bluevale's Stefan Cvrkalj was recognized.

According to the Flagrant Fouls website, Cvrkalj was one of 17 players to make an impact and turn some heads:

Although running the point for Bluevale, this Serbian sharpshooter may be a better fit as a 2-guard. Not to degrade his point skills, I actually like the move by Coach Theodosiou, as it gives Stefan a chance to handle the rock against pressure, but as of now he may not be quick enough to bring up the ball at the next level. SC has a high basketball I.Q and is very methodical in his passing and approach to the game in general. He does a good job of reading the defence to either fire a crisp pass, or rise up and launch.

In their two games, both losses, Cvrkalj scored 24 points against Scarborough Mother Teresa and 16 versus Vaughan.

The list of players include Toronto Oakwood's Julian Clarke, whose five consecutive three pointers in the fourth quarter of the championship game, paced the Barons to the quad-A provincial title.

VOLLEYBALL: Trojans are golden

They didn't do it the easy way but the Trojans are provincial champions.

No. 1 seed Forest Heights lived up to the pre-tournament billing going 6-0 over two days in Barrie to win the quad-A girls volleyball championship.

Like much of the tournament, tonight's gold game went the distance.

The WCSSAA champs jumped out to a 2-0 set advantage before letting Georgetown creep back into the match with two straight sets.

In the fifth, Forest Heights got down early but regained momentum to rattle off the points need to get to 15.

Forest Heights 3, Georgetown 2
25-15, 25-19, 17-25, 25-27, 15-10

This must have been an exhausting couple days for Forest Heights.

They played the maximum number of sets in five of their six matches. They also lost the first set in four of their matches and had to come from behind.

It's that type of experience and confidence that goes into winning at the provincial level, as evidenced tonight.

Well done, Trojans.

(I can't say for sure but I believe Forest Heights was the last WCSSAA team to win OFSAA gold in a team sport at the quad-A level (2005?). Would love to hear if I'm mistaken though.)

HOCKEY: Trojans finished in final

The Orangeville Bears has its way with WCSSAA teams today.

First a 2-0 win over Grand River to eliminate the local champs from the tournament in Fergus.

Then a final 5-2 victory over Forest Heights, the four seed, in a rematch of last night's overtime game to claim the CWOSSA shield.

Goals by Cole Chessell and Blair Witmer were not enough for the Trojans.

As regional champions, Orangeville advances to triple/quad-A OFSAA in St. Catharines.

UPDATE: Forest Heights Trojans suffer painful loss

VOLLEYBALL: Updates from OFSAA ... Trojans in quad-A final

Quad-A championships in Barrie:

• Forest Heights def. No. 8 A.B. Lucas (London) in three sets (23-25, 25-20, 15-8)
• The Trojans def. No. 7 Mayfield in another three set match (23-25, 25-16, 15-12)
  
• Gold game schedule for 6:00 p.m. where Forest Heights, representing WCSSAA, will face No. 3 Georgetown.
• Unfortunately no live stream of the match like SJAM's senior boys' gold medal match -- the live blog will have to do.
  

Triple-A championships in Stratford

• Jacob Hespeler lost its must-win final pool game to Madill (25-19, 16-25, 11-15)
• The Hawks rebounded in the consolation quarters beating No. 14 Lawrence Park (22-25, 25-23, 15-10)
• Second win of the day was over St. Joseph's (25-17, 25-14) to make the consolation final.
• The Hawks fell in a heartbreaker to No. 6 R.S. McLaughton out of LOSSA. RCM won 2-1 (25-21, 16-25, 16-14). Good run by JHSS in the consolation round.