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Wednesday, May 30, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER C1 Sports!Wednesday An O akville Beaver Feature Editor: NORM NELSON Phone:845-3824, e x t 255 Fax:337-5567 E-m ail:n n e ls o n @ h a lto n s e a rc h .c o m Devils again rule Halton; seeded #2 at OFSM By Norm Nelson BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Rest easy, order has been restored to the uni verse, the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils rule senior boys rugby in Halton once more. The Red Devils, who open up their provincial championship aspirations in Stoney Creek today, won their 30th league playoff championship in 31 years at Sherwood Forest Park last Friday with an impressive 8-0 win over defending Halton cham pion Notre Dame. It was Notre Dame, last year, that ended the seemingly endless reign of Oakville Trafalgar at an unprecedented 29 straight championships with a come-from-behind 18-17 win. Ironically, last year was also the same year that the entire Red Devils team, lock, stock and barrel, was inducted into the Oakville Sports Hall of Fame. But the Red Devils have come back with a vengeance, reclaiming their crown, most fittingly against the upstarts from Burlington who stole it from them. And this, despite the fact that Notre Dame had their defending Halton champion team basically intact, minus a handful of players, while Oakville Trafalgar had a huge turnaround, in fact, with only a handful of players returning. They included Sean Michael Stephens, Andrew Christie, John Dack, Craig Trenholm and Paul Heakes. The reinforcements, however, were unusually qualified -- the junior squad having won last year's Halton junior championship and then going on to earn a silver medal in the Barbarian Cup. the unofficial provincial championship. Two years previous to that, the junior team won the provin cial championship. In fact, coach Greg Sora figures next year should be the peak year for the senior team. They're getting respect early, however, as the Red Devils are ranked second going into this year's OFSAA (Ontario Federation of Secondary School Athletic Associations) provincial champi onships which runs from today through to Friday in Stoney Creek. That seeding comes largely on the strength of winning their half of the draw at the prestigious early season Red Hot Invitational at York University. Barrie, the top seed, won the other half of the draw. Barrie are also the defending provincial sil ver medalists, having lost in last year's provincial championship game to Toronto's Lawrence Park. The Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils (black/red jerseys), pictured here in their 47-0 semifinal win over Loyola, regained their longtime league dominance with an 8-0 win over defend ing Halton champion, Notre Dame. Oakville Trafalgar will obviously be heavily favoured in their opening game today (Wednesday), 4 p.m., against LaSalle from Kingston. A quirk in the seeding, however, has Oakville Trafalgar on an early collision course with the defending provincial champion Lawrence Park. "If the seeding goes according to plan we'll be playing Lawrence Park in our second game. And that Lawrence Park game will be crucial... If we lose that game, we go home. "If we win, we go to the medal round." Coach Sora absolutely refused to be drawn into any seeding controversy, but he's obviously hop ing there's a good reason why the defending champs have had their stock plummet, other than missing the Red Hot Invitational. "I don't know what their turnover is. So I hope that their turnover is such that they lost all their players from last year." Just like the Red Devils, eh! The path, if the favourites prevail, would then lead to a semifinal game against fellow provincial powerhouse Brantford "who we beat in the semi final of the Red Hot 12-5." Brantford won both the junior and midget provincial titles last year (against two Oakville schools, Oakville Trafalgar and White Oaks, respectively). "And if things go according to Hoyle, we'll play Barrie in the final." Oakville Trafalgar hasn't played defending sil ver medalist Barrie this year but in a post-OFSAA exhibition match last year, Oakville Trafalgar defeated them 27-0. After last year's shocking Halton champi onship loss, the Red Devils were on a mission right from the get-go, this year. "I've never had a team so focused on being successful," said coach Sora. It sure made his job easy, he said, explaining that they needed "very little direction in practice, very little discipline. The players knew what they had to do." They set the tone very early by not just winning the Red Hot Invitational, as noted above, but by winning the championship game against Notre Dame 19-10. (See 'Red Devils' page C3) Photos by Barrie Erskine Aquinas top ranked at OFSAA By Norm Nelson BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders are one of the favoured teams going into the provincial triple-A senior girls high school soccer championships which run Thursday to Saturday in Ottawa. But to make any kind of noise they'll likely have to earn a third straight win over Burlington's longtime soccer powerhouse, Nelson. The lady Raiders made it two in a row over Nelson in last Friday's Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference (G-HAC) championship with a 2-0 win. Goals were scored by Erica Taugher and Kara Lang, both grade nine students. Only pride and a trophy were on the line, however, as both teams had already qualified for the prestigious OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) playdowns. Aquinas had qualified by virtue of their first win over Nelson, by a 3-1 margin, in the Halton championship on Tuesday of last week. And Nelson had gone on to qualify with an improbable come from behind 4-3 overtime win over defending provincial champion St. Mary's on Wednesday of last week. Nelson battled back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1. . Ironically, it was St. Mary's winning the provincial champi- forTEENS The Burlington Minor Football Association is looking for players for the upcoming Tackle House League Season. You must be 13 or 14 years of age as of September 1st, with a maximum weight of 160 lbs. IS year olds, as of December 31st, 2 0 0 1, are also eligible as long as their weight is under 140 lbs. All equipment except footwear provided. REGISTRATION J -- SATURDAY JUNE 2N D , 2001 FROM 9 AM TO I PM A' AT NELSON EQUIPM ENT CENTRE BEHIND NELSON HIGH SCHOOL Photo by Barrie Erskine Aquinas beat powerhouse Nelson twice last week in the Halton and G-HAC championship games, and they might have to beat em ' a third time if they hope to make some noise at OFSAA. onship last year that ultimately resulted in G-HAC securing a second berth into this year's provincials. That's because the ongoing labour strife in some high schools throughout the province resulted in a vacancy in the 17team provincial championship -- which according to the rules is filled by a second berth from the region of the defending champion. So not only did Friday's GHAC championship have no bearing on an OFSAA berth, but Nelson were missing three key starters -- Brea Griffiths, Kristi Crampton and Tiffany Meinen -- for a variety of reasons. And another one -- Andrea Beatty -- played only half a game. For Aquinas, however, it was still a game to be won. "We went in there, we wanted to win," said Aquinas coach Michelle Spears. "You know Nelson's a soccer powerhouse so just for the mental state of our girls it was really important that we beat them again, and certain ly it gives us a little bit of an edge going into play them a third time if we have to at OFSAA. "And we were really up for the game, and our goal was to win. So regardless, we wanted the G-HAC championship regardless of the OFSAA berth." Aquinas and Nelson are on separate sides of the draw at OFSAA but if they both win their respective divisions, they would meet up in the semifinals (and, actually, they would also meet up if they both finished (See Raiders' page C3) For further information visit the BMFA website at www.leaguelineup.com/burlington or c a ll^ W T t 9 05 -637-2055. V / CRnnomn TIRE DUNOfAS & \ RAFALGAR ROAD 400 Dundas St. E. FLUSH & FI LI Here's what we'll do: · Install up to 8L of Motomaster Coolant · Pressure - test cooling system Visually inspect all belts & hoses Check cooling fan operation OAKTOWN LAZA SHOPPING PLA2 5 5 0 K e r r S tr e e , 2 5 7 -T IR E 257-0429 SERVICE HOURS: 84 4 -0 2 0 2 STORE HOURS] Mon. -Fn. &30am-9pm Sun. 9am-5pm Mon. -Fri. 7nm-9pfti' Silt. 7nm-6pm Sun. 9nm-5pm 1 1 \ Ji # ' | ^ V eh icles < Look for t flyer in Friday's Oakville Beaver m dur Accredited T est * Bejw Fodltty V