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www.insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, September 1, 2017 | 14 Kevin Nagel, Oakville Beaver Sports Editor, sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" The Oakville Crusaders won the Rugby Ontario girls' under-18 championship, beating the Oshawa Vikings 48-5 in the gold-medal game. Team members are: (front, from left): Carlie Knott, Katie Walker, Abigail Wade, Natasha Edmonds, Alexa Marks, Emily Skelhorne, Haileigh Walsh, Jessica Savage, Annie-Rose Johnson, Bridget Peros, (back row, from left) coach Peter Black, Jessika Hurd, Rachel Bingham, Lauren Male, Melanee Rajapakse, Lindsay Naudie, Karenna Ottywill, Lindsey Butt, Vic Recagno, Aman Gill, Emma Wade, Taylor Black and coach Kevin Ramroop. Below, Aman Gill of the Oakville Crusaders tries to break free of an Oshawa tackle while teammate Bridget Peros moves in to lend support. | photos by Rugby Ontario Crusaders rebound to win provincial U18 title By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff The wounds hadn't even had a chance to heal when the Oakville Crusaders looked across the field and saw a familiar opponent. Bruises from the Toronto Rugby Union girls' under-18 championship game against the Oshawa Vikings two days earlier were still visible, but the biggest wound inflicted couldn't be seen. Oakville had built a 17-point halftime lead against the Vikings, but it all unraveled in the second half as Oshawa took the league title with a 50-34 victory. "They dominated us in the second half," said Crusaders coach Peter Black. Now the teams were set to square off again for the Rugby Ontario Junior Cup. When halftime rolled around, the Crusaders found themselves in the exact same position, leading 22-5. "They knew they had to play the entire game and not give away the lead like they did before," Black said. "Our girls understood how important it was to keep possession against them and win those individual battles." Those lessons paid off as the Crusaders refused to give the Vikings an opportunity to mount another comeback. Instead, Oakville put a large exclamation mark on their provincial title by scoring 26 unanswered points for a 48-5 victory. "Everything we had been working on all year, it just clicked with them," Black said. The Crusaders finished third in the fiveteam Toronto Rugby Union West Division, but played most of the year without Bridg- et Peros, Taylor Black and Idia Ihensekhien who were playing with the Canadian under-18 team. And, though they were back for the Crusaders final games, several players missed provincials after returning to school. Despite having players taking on new roles, the Crusaders didn't miss a beat. "We were missing a few of our regular players and girls came in, stepped into those positions and stepped up immensely," Black said. "It was a complete team effort." Nowhere was that more evident than in the Crusaders' defensive play. Oakville shut out Fergus 36-0 in the provincial semifinal, finishing the weekend allowing only one try. "Our defence was spectacular," Black said. Buzz hope to bring their A game with proposal to OLA for reclassification By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff After watching the top homegrown talent leave town, the Oakville Buzz is hoping to give those players a team of their own. The local Jr. B lacrosse team is working on a proposal to become the 12th team in the Ontario Lacrosse Association's Jr. A league. "It's been in discussion for a while," said team president Sam Rook. "A lot of Oakville players are being drafted by Jr. A. We have one of the strongest minor associations, not only in quality, but in depth. We're losing our best midget players every year." An Oakville player has been se- lected in the top 10 picks in the Jr. A draft in each of the last eight years. Most recently, Jonathan Donville went first overall in 2015 and Matt Sykes was taken ninth in 2016, both by Mimico, and Josh Dawick was picked second overall by Toronto in this year's draft. Moving to Jr. A would allow Oakville to protect players from its minor system. "We feel that players that have grown up playing in Oakville should be playing in Oakville (in junior)," Rook said. "You play at home and it brings a lot of pride. It gives the kids something to strive for." The Buzz will make a presenta- tion to a group of three Jr. A governors in mid-September. That group will then make a recommendation to the full board in late October or early November. Acceptance into the Jr. A ranks requires 10 of the 11 votes of the full board. The Buzz had a long-time affiliation with the Jr. A Burlington Chiefs, but that was ended prior to this season. Burlington affiliated with Hamilton while the Buzz was without a Jr. A affiliate. "That worked for a long time and we had a good relationship," Rook said of the affiliation with the Chiefs, "but they understand our reasoning (for wanting to move to Jr. A)." There were seven Oakville natives on the Chiefs this season but Rook believes the two teams could co-exist. "We don't want to come in at the expense of another team," he said. He said the proximity of the two teams would create a natural rivalry. "Burlington and Oakville in the (Ontario Junior Hockey League) have a really good rivalry," he said. "We hope that we would have that same kind of thing." Rook said by Jr. A bylaws, Oakville could not make the move until the 2019 season, although he said the team could be ready for next season. Another condition states that Oakville could not have a Jr. B team if the Buzz moves to Jr. A. "The Jr. C team would stay in Oakville and be a very important part of our development system," Rook said, "but we would have to actively search out a Jr. B team to be our affiliate." Rook said the budget would not increase significantly because of the reduced travel. In Jr. B, the Buzz have an overnight trip every season to play the Ottawa-area teams. The Buzz would continue to play out of Joshua's Creek Arenas. The Buzz began play in 2001 and have 15 consecutive winning seasons in Jr. B. Oakville won the Founders Cup, the national Jr. B championship, in 2006.