OFSAA roundup: Area teams win medals, Crusaders prepare for Monday’s football final

As local OFSAA teams saw a mixture of victory and defeat this weekend, the CCH Crusaders look to defend their OFSAA Western Bowl crown.

London’s Monseigneur-Bruyere Pantheres are bringing home an OFSAA volleyball silver medal to the Forest City.

The Pantheres, seeded fourth after winning WOSSAA, were defeated 3-1 by number one seeded École Secondaire Macdonald-Cartier out of Sudbury in the championship game.

They were looking to be the first A boys volleyball title for a WOSSAA representative since Glencoe D.H.S. in 1999.

In AAA girls’ basketball, host Sarnia St. Patrick’s took home the silver medal after a 49-37 loss to Maple Ridge in the championship game.

A.B. Lucas S.S. out of London were the bronze medalists knocking off Bishop Tonnos 50-42 in the third-place game.

At the AA girls’ basketball tournament, the St. Joseph’s Rams out of St. Thomas, Ont. came within inches and two points of claiming a medal.

Trailing 52-50 against King’s Christian, the game tying layup attempt bounced off the rim. After a jump ball with 8.5 seconds to go, the Rams had one last chance, but a turnover didn’t allow them to get off the shot as time expired.

Essentially taking a junior team to a top four finish in the province, head coach David Fox told CTV News this team will be a force going forward.

“Looking forward to how they develop over the next couple of years, especially as a group,” said Fox.

“Our grade 12 and our grade 11 have contributed a lot this year and there’s some leadership that we really depended on there, but certainly the young ones have led the charge going through this season. It’s going to be exciting to watch them develop over the next couple of years,” he added.

On the gridiron, the CCH Crusaders are looking to defend their OFSAA Western Bowl crown, but they will have their hands full with Hamilton’s Bishop Ryan Celtics Monday afternoon.

“Obviously, they have a good running back, so I think our defence will be key to stop them,” said Marcus Fleury, Crusaders’ receiver and kicker. “I think if we play anything like we did in the city championships [39-7 over SAB] on offence, get things moving in the air and running, I think we’ll be fine.”

The Celtics are known to spread the field and throw the ball. The style of game played more often in the Golden Horseshoe is more of a USports or CFL-style game, while in London they use the run game and dominant offensive linesmen to run the ball more. Neither side will have seen much of their type of ball.

CCH is the defending champion and ranked as the top team in Ontario by high school coaches.

“We’ve got a really strong team this year and we’ve been working towards this all year,” said Jed Trupish, in his fourth year as Crusaders’ QB. “We have a really good offence and defence, so it should be a good game. I watched a little bit of film on them, and we had a couple of the guys down to their game.”

This group returned several fifth-year players at key positions in hopes of building to this point.

“It is definitely exciting, but it [the WOSSAA final] was little bit of an emotional one,” said Keyshawn Manning, Crusaders’ running back and WOSSAA MVP. “Not only was it our last one in high school, but knowing we still have one more game, I think that will be the more emotional one.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Guelph’s University Stadium.

The South Lions captured the AA football title with a win over Kingston La Salle SS in a Limestone Invitational game. The contest is part of an effort to potentially create an OFSAA Bowl Series for A/AA schools.