The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

I "Ri~~~~~~~~~Te Canadien C'sssoTedy be~r,2~0-' SPORTS C, Il-ýý ,l ne I I .-C E t J"yetMa MD seniors advance to Halton semifinals Photo by GRAHAM PAINE vT,.aken for a ride Winterhawk Grog Mountaîn upenda his Arthur opponent durlng single A major novice play at idemorlal Arena Saturday. Arthur would corne out on top on the scoreboard, however, beating Milton &-1. Merchants destroy Oakville By STEVE LeBLANC Thse Champion Blowout victoties are quickly isecamiug a thing of tise psst in tise Ontaria Provuiscial Jr. A Leagsae's WestConféence. But Friday niglit at Memorial Arena, Gien Walsi'sî Merebants turned back tise clock and remmnded fans juat bow dansiating Usey can be. Fueled hy su ovet'al gtitty performansce aind four- goal attack froin returniug sparicphtg Elliott Altiesi, Milton rau their current unbeaien slreak ta Uameeby bomising tihe Oalrville Btades 9-3. Ibis matked ouly the fifils division gamne tiss yesr with a goal tifférential.of morethdm four. Naw grauted Use lop+iided wins was agaiinat tise basesisent dnteliaot - btinl this ssew eia of paiity, no teaiscan betakensligstly. Fortuuately, tisat point wasi't bost on the Mereants Friday. Continuing to step up tiseir lntensity and physical play, thse honss weoe atrong in tise neutral zone sud lu tise causes ail niglit aud didn't case up until weil into tise final framne when a conseback - or for that matter even a close fmnMi - wss sinsply out of tise question. lise Mercisants' bisseline unit - wisicb remains depleted but is still sisowiug a lot of durabiiity - iseld Use visitors ta just nine shots lu tise firsi two periodsand 22 overali, Rick Jauca's retusu front injuty plut a risut effort frons bis fellow defence- mai consbined to liold thse Blides at bay througis most of the eveni ng. Meanwisilc, Joel Cameemu bast bis shutaut seven minutes inothUe third wheas a ieflgthy floater by Geoif asrtis caught hlm going tmieater way. Afler that lie was beat twice more, each time by Chris Peolserick. Surprisissgiy enough with thse gaine oui af meach, tisird-period playr did not deteriarate int a slugibat. Thie only fistacuffs batlie itsvolved Jamnes Cabmran, wtso's taken on the suantie of bots mst insproved player aud teaus etiforcer, sud Oaicville counteq>ait Ryan eierssieri. Finally discoverlng bis scorlng touch - aller flndlng the back of thse net only once in 10 ganes - Altberg scotred five minutes ino thUe contest sud finisissd his scoring ssirge witis shout tive minutes left ta estsblish a new aingle-gaine scoring record thlt year for Milton. Teai points leader Aisdy Rozak tisa put bis stamp on the gaine wisis a goal and four sssts while Flavia Fagionni scored once sud added two- Iselpers. Tihe Merchants' otiser marksmcn were Scott Malcolms, Shane Remenda aud newcomer Ryais DelMonte - wisase added gtit up front. Now sitting second witls a record of 1 1-4-3, Milton hasts Stsesville Fniday. By MURRAY TOWNSEND Special ta The Champion Who let the dogs out? A baring, grnwling, teeth-haring Milton District senior football team thoroughly dominated Burlington's Lord Elgin Lancers in tirst round playoff action Friday aftemoon, winning 28-O before a large and enthusiastic home crowd. A thesaurus would be needed ta find enough superlatives ta describe the teamo' effort, especially in light of their gamne the week before against the same Lord Elgin squad, in which they squeaked by with a 13-6 victory. "We knew what we had ta do," said quarterback Mark Grimwoad, who played close ta a flawless game. "We weren't happy with our performance last week." The big difference, according to Gnimwoad? "Our defense really stepped it up. When the defense got those turnovers it helped get the offense going." Grimwoad was right on the money with almost every pass, including a 35-yard strike ta Ryan Groom, a 20-yard connec- tion over the middle ta Ian Robinson, and first down completions ta Mike Themrault and Louis Delpratt. Two other potential long-gainers went tbrougb fingersips or were called back by penalties. Explosive effort The offensive star of the game, however, was Greg van Es, who had three touch- downs and was absolutely sensational mun- ning the football. He sent a message that hie meant business on the very lirst play of the game he went outside for 30 yards. A couple plays later he taok the baIl in from 11l-yards out. is second touchdown was from the six-yard line, and bis third was s 36-yard carry on whicb tise only tbîng that could have stopped bim was a landmine. Maybe. Wayne Meinen and Kris Beal also had outstanding rushing games, witb Meinen doing the pounding up the middle and Beal bresking a number of nins for first downs. Robinson broke off a thrilling tifty-yard seamper into tise end zone but it was called back by a penalty. Ail four of them fought and seratched for every single inch of terri- tory, going around, over and through the Lord Elgin defenders. Echoing Grimwood's comments, van Es said matter of factly, "We knew wbat we bad ta do sud did it." He thought the biggest difference between the two games was simply, "execution," and denied have a personal built-in homing device for the end zone. He also pîsys defense, which bad an' amazing game. "We changed a lot of the defense around ta match their plays," sug- gested van Es, but it was considerably more than that. Tbcy were pumped, almost daring the Lancers ta try and gain groitnd against them, which.didn't happen very ofien. Their energy level could be appreci- ated even on the sidelines where many of their bits were so bard the spectators could feel thers. Lord Elgin came nowhere near threatening ta score and even gaining any yardage at ail was probably a moral victo- ry for tbem. Dynamite defense Meinen played bis usual daminating gaine, and Pieter Deetlefs stepped up and cantributed an excellent performance witb a lot of big tackles. On a big fourtb dawn and less than a yard play, Rab Skinner brought down a runner behind the line of scrimmage and had an autstanding gaine overaîl. The Lancers bad a couple of fumbles, each one forced by big bits by defensive players. Eric Liddon smashed one bail car- rier into the next time zone ta allow Joss Suter ta recaver the resulting fumble, and on another Sean Dale did the exact samne thing ta allow Deetlef ta faîl on the free hall. The secondary rarely allowed a complet- ed pass beyand thse line of serimmage. Jeff MacLeod was thse Lancers léhding rcceiver and be plays for the Mustangs. He had two interceptions on the day. Suter and Bren Si1k also tumed in excel- lent performances. Special teams made same big pîsys and the offensive line must bave played well, tao, because typically they neyer get noticed unless they mess up. "We came out and played like we can," said coachs, Ed Stavnitzky, using the words, "intense" and "focused." Yet he wasn't quite Sa quick ta award the teamn the Haltan cbampionsbip. He waa concerned about midstakes that would hurt thern a lot more against the better teains. The noticeable shartcaming was in thc penalties departint where flaga were fly- ing more aftcn than on Canada Day. He tbaught nerves might have alan been an issue, referring ta the penalties and perhaps anme of tise dropped passes, not- ing that anc of tise team's goals was ta "overaîl have the emotional security ta do what wc want ta do." Tbc Mustangs are at Burlington Central this Friday for the Division Il semni-ftnals. Game time is 2 p.m. TIme Troyota Vague Sized Bcvent oas No«w! V 11210 __________ + la i newl m-r peme, space .ooth,. ]. .2.0 litre 148 HP, VVT-l engiun. ul mauw web $hl mh,,1, h.ight & *Pwe w fi .iowdmyrlcm M aelou ame, roof esé PU*AMRM stermo wlth CD ALL FOR JUST 3 3with'3995 down Alheldlelc@ttlilg $38O<>MO MORE Based on 48 mms. wamay lem. iret prol. Swrit deom "u on dak"m. 9sased on 96.000 km adtMbt charge of $0 10 are npik-o 2001 Pav4. 2001 RAV4