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

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER C3 Red Devils survived late game loss of star player (Continued from page C1) Back in Halton, the two schools found opposition only when they played each other -- and Oakville Trafalgar won that one, as well, 19-0. The one that really counted, howev er, was last Friday's 8-0 Halton cham pionship win. "Beating a team three times is very Raiders at OFSAA (Continued from page C1) second). There is a slim possibility they could meet up in the final and that's if one team finished first in their pool while the other team finished second in theirs (supposing, of course, that they both went on to win their quar terfinal and semifinal games). Aquinas is in a four-team pool with Notre Dame (Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association), East York (Toronto District School Board) and their namesake from London, St. Thomas Aquinas (Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association). They open with two games on Thursday against Notre Dame (9:30 a.m.) and East York (1 p.m.) and their final preliminary round game on Friday against London Aquinas (9 a.m.). Quarterfinals run Friday, 3 p.m. Semifinals and the medal (bronze and gold) games are Saturday at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. "Our goal is to medal and I think we have a good opportunity to do that," said coach Spears. "Unfortunately our toughest game will probably come in the semifinals where we will most likely meet Nelson. "We'll have a tough game against St. Thomas Aquinas from London, and that's our third game of the tour nament. "I'm assuming that our first two games, we should be able to get by without any major problems. The third game will give us a little bit more difficulty." On the other hand, she concedes that it's strictly 'on paper'. "Out of all the teams playing, we've only ever faced one of them before, other than Nelson, so I really don't have a good indication as to what the stronger teams are. "There were so few tournaments held this year because o f all the work to rule, etc., so w e've only seen one and that's Colonel By from Ottawa -- and they're a good squad. "We beat them in overtime in a tournament earlier this year so I'm expecting the level of soccer to be good but I am expecting us to medal." Outside of a regular season 2-2 tie with Oakville Trafalgar, St. Thomas Aquinas has put together an other wise perfect record o f 15 wins throughout regular season and play off play, thus far. Including tournament action, their overall record is 21-2-1. The squad boasts a who's who of top rep players, including one -- Karen Zmirak -- who hopes to be wearing two hats this weekend. The grade nine student is on the Oakville Cobras U-15 team that was featured in last Wednesday's Oakville Beaver for winning the Nike Ontario championship and which, this week end, is competing in the Nike Canadian championship in Toronto. "As soon as we're done on Saturday -- we're assuming we're going to be in the medal game -- she will leave us to go back to her club team. "She is missing Nike Cup games to stay at OFSAA on the Saturday. That is a decision that she made. She talked to her coach. She feels comfortable and confident with that decision. She wants to be here for OFSAA. "I actually expected to lose her for the weekend so it was a surprise to me when she said that. "1 guess their more important games come on the Sunday." She's not the only Grade nine phenom on the team. "Kara Lang up front -- she's an unbelievable striker," said coach Spears. "She's probably the fastest girl in all of Halton when it comes to carrying the ball at her feet." Grade 12 student Clare O'Connor is the other "key striker". At the other end, she termed Grade 11 student Venessa Vuia as the "backbone of the defence." In between, "Alana Juzenas (OAC student) controls our midfield. Without her, we don't win balls in the air. She sets up most of our goals." Other key midfielders are Zmirak and Grade 10 student Jetina Sporta. difficult," maintained coach Sora. "In the regular season I thought we played a sloppy game and that they (Notre Dame) took advantage of all their opportunities and their best play er, Myles Dorion, scored their 10 points. "He got the try, the conversion and the penalty kick, and so it was our game plan to make sure he didn't have an opportunity to do anything and he didn't." And a good thing, too, as the game was extremely close right until the end. Oakville Trafalgar got on the board early with a penalty kick by James Wood to make it 3-0. The Red Devils then had a glorious chance to extend their early lead. "We had the ball in front of the goal posts a second time in the first half and I indicated that I wanted the points on the board, in other words kick it through to make it 6-0. "And the boys, through their enthu siasm, thought they could score, and of course they didn't and they (Notre Dame) kicked it out. "It's just that when you get chances to put points on the board and you don't, it sometimes can come back to haunt you, but it didn't." Sora felt Oakville Trafalgar, in the first half, had the ball in Notre Dame's end "75 per cent of the time" and were "pressing, pressing, pressing." But that was of little consolation with only a 3-0 lead to show for it, especially "knowing what happened last y e a r... "With Notre Dame having very good backs, especially Myles, their fly half, we were always worried they could break it through." The elements for disaster were set in motion in the second half when Oakville Trafalgar's national team player, Sean Michael Stephens went down to injury with just 10 minutes left in the game and still nursing the 3-0 lead. Notre Dame had come back from a greater deficit (12-0) in last year's Halton championship. "I heard the Notre Dame team say, `Sean Michael's down, let's go, we can do it'. "And when I heard that I just rallied our guys and said, even though we have a great player down, one player does not make a team." His troops responded with Pat Bakker pushing through the insurance try. "I was proud of the boys when Sean Michael Stephens went down, and with 10 minutes left in the game that we actually were pressing them as opposed to them pressing us." Besides national team player Sean Michael Stephens who is expected to return to action for OFSAA (although likely missing the opening game), the team also boasts four provincial team members -- James Wood, John Roberts, Adam Byers and Jeff MacDonald. "It makes a pretty strong nucleus for a team," agreed Sora. Saturday home opener Just about everything is new for the Oakville Longhorns football club this season. But they'll be hoping for the same old result, especially considering they're back at their old stomping grounds -- Bronte Athletic Field in Oakville. The `Horns, who are the unprece dented eight-time Northern Football Conference champions as well as winners of the inaugural Canadian Senior Football League (CSFL) national championship, open up the season this Saturday, 6 p.m. at Bronte Park in Oakville against Oshawa Hawkeyes. The team, which has always been strong with it's on-field program, now feels it will be equally strong in the front office. That's because the team has now been taken over by a new ownership group comprised of five current players -- Karl Kustor (presi dent), Richard Rebiere, Mark Demerling, Dana Segin and Vincent Rinella. One of their first moves, well pub licized in this paper, was to take it upon themselves to resolve with the town some previous outstanding debts which they had nothing to do with, but which were remaining on the books. That cleared the way for a wel come return to their home at Bronte Athletic Field after a two-year absence where they were forced to play in Burlington. This season is also shaping up to be a truly interesting year for the NFC, which is one of the last bastions of senior tackle football. The level of play is high enough that league stars routinely find them selves scooped up by CFL teams for varying lengths of stay. The league over the last decade has averaged about four teams -- about the minimum you would want for a bona fide league -- some years rising as high as six teams. But this year, there has been a vir tual stampede of Canadian teams coming back from the U.S. to the extent that the league will actually more than double itself to nine teams. Rounding out the original quartet are the Sudbury Spartans, North Bay Bull Dogs and Sault Ste. Marie Storm. And they'll be joined by five new teams -- the Oshawa Hawkeyes, Belleville Panthers, Mega City Mad Dogs (Toronto), Mississauga Wolverines and the Markham Raiders. Markham is returning after a year absence and after having reached the NFC final in each of the three previ ous years, only to lose to the `Horns on each occasion. So, no doubt, they'll be looking to once again take it over the top. Sears stores close to you, close to home Major Appliances are available at the following Greater Toronto locations.- North Bolton Dealer Store (905) 857-4390 MarWiam Furniture, Appliances & Home Improvements Store Don Mills & Steeles (905) 881-6600 Markville Shopping Centre (905) 946-1866 Promenade Shopping Centre (905) 731-3388 SAVE $220 Our lowest price of the season KENMORE 20.5-CU. FT. FRIDGE WITH TOP FREEZER 1 full and 2 half-width glass shelves. #65142. Sears reg. 1099.99. Available in White and Bisque Richmond Hill Furniture & Appliances Store Hw y. 7 and Yonge St (905) 762-0870 Upper Canada Mall Newmarket (905) 898-2300 Woodbridge Furniture & Appliances Store Hwy. 7 & Weston Rd. (905) 850-6406 East Oshawa Shopping Centre (905) 576-1711 Pickering Town Centre (905) 420-8000 Scarborough Furniture & Appliances Store Kennedy Rd. & 401 (416) 332-8577 Scarborough Town Centre (416) 296-0171 Central Fairview Mall (416) 502-3737 Gerrard Square (416) 461-9092 Woodbine Shopping Centre (416) 798-3800 Yorkdale Shopping Centre (416) 789-1105 Allen Rd. Furniture & Appliances Store Allen Rd. & Sheppard Ave. (416) 398-9947 West Ancaster Furniture & Appliances Store Golf Links Rd. & Legend Crt. (905) 304-1440 all onsale ` ALL ON S A LE ' END S SUNDAY, JUNE 3 , OR W H ER E SEARS IS C LO SED , SATURDAY, JUNE 2 , 2 0 0 1 KENMORE MAJOR APPLIANCES & VACUUMS Bramalea City Centre (905) 458-1141 Brampton Furniture & Appliances Store 535 Steeles Ave. E. (905) 455-1255 Burlington Furniture & Appliances Store Plains Rd. East & Brant St. (905) 631-9655 Erin Mills Town Centre (905) 607-2300 Georgetown Dealer Store (905) 877-5172 Hamilton Centre Mall (905) 545-4741 Limeridge Mall Hamilton (905) 389-4441 Mapleview Centre Burlington (905) 632-4111 Milton Dealer Store (905) 8784104 Mississauga Dealer Store (905) 848-8882 Mississauga Furniture & Appliances Store Hwy. 5 & 403 (905) 820-6801 Oakville Place (905) 842-9410 Sherway Gardens (416) 620-6011 ^ Plus, use your Sears Card and J earn double Sears Club points on all Kenmore® major appliances and vacuums Square One Shopping Centre (905) 270-8111 Major appliances online at www.sears.ca now $847 SAVE $300 Our lowest price of the season KENMORE SMOOTH-TOP SELF-CLEAN RANGE QuickBakeTM feature. #64643. Sears reg. 1149.99. Also a vailab le w ith o u t QuickBake feature. Easy clean model also on sale save $290 .»tM TM KENMORE LAUNDRY TEAM 3-speed washer. #20702. Sears reg. 769.99.599.99 Dryer with Wrinkle Guard® feature. #60702. Sears reg. 589.99. 1/2 price KENMORE 12-AMP UPRIGHT VACUUM With stretch hose and foam chamber filter. # 31100. Sears reg. 299.99. 149.99 *Use your Sears Card and earn double Sears Club points on all Kenmore major appliances and vacuums. On approved credit. Offer does not apply to deferral fees, maintenance agreement, delivery or installation charges. Excludes items in our Liquidation/O utlet stores and Catalogue purchases. Offer ends Sunday, June 3, or where Sears is closed, Saturday, June 2, 20 01. Ask for details. 469.99 SEARS. SELECTION. SERVICES. REWARDS. / LAFARGE C A N A D A IN C isiMtmmuttaum for the homeowner's outdoor needs Concrete ·Supercrete" for il l of your homeowner needs. Patios, Driveways, Walkways, etc. OPEN SATURDAY SEASONALLY. ORDERS MUST BE PLACED BY 5 PM THURSDAY C o lle d y o u r . , V M r .'Hies h ere BURLINGTON: (905)637-5607 MILTON: (905) 876-4728 GEORGETOWN: (905)873-0254 Sears Oakville Place Mon.-Fri. 9:30 am-9 pm. Sat. 8 am-6 pm. Sun.11 am-6 pm. Sears Furniture & Appliance Store Mississauga Mon.-Fri. 10 am-9 pm. Sat. 10 am-6 pm. Sun. 11 am-6 pm. N P 0 6 10401 C o p y rig h t 2 0 0 1 . S e ars C a n a d a Inc. i