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55| O akville B eaver | T hursday,June 14,2018 insidehalton.com They had been preparing for thismoment all season. For some, itwas culmination of three or fouryears of hard work and in a few short minutes it was all but over. "As OT players we expect a lot of our- selves," Red Devils' prop Ryley Gould said after the OFSAA girls' rugby gold medal game was over, struggling to get the words out as tears welled in her eyes. "We're like a family. Most of us have been together since Grade 9 and they're some of the best girls I've ever met. We're sisters and we fight for each other and we make each other better." Though it sounded like a concession speech, it was anything but. Instead, Gould and her teammates had just com- pleted one of the most dominant seasons in high school sports, one in which they did not allow a single point. Matched against the province's best teams at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship, Oakville Trafalgar laid waste to the com- petition, outscoring its opponents 190-0 on its way to its third provincial title in four years. Just eight minutes into the gold-medal game, OT had already scored three tries and led 19-0 against Guelph's J.F. Ross. By half time, the lead had doubled to 38-0. You half expected Oprah to appear andYou half expected Oprah to appear andY start shouting "You get a try, and you get a try ..." When the final whistle sounded, Oak- ville Trafalgar had beaten the second- ranked team in the province 71-0. While those kinds of scores are not uncommon in league play - OT beat Georgetown 75-0 to win its 11th straight Halton title - it's quite another thing to do it in the provincial final. The previous three OFSAA gold-medal games had been decided by a combined 23 points, with 10 points being the biggest margin. OT knows what it's like to be on the losing end of an OFSAA final, which played a big part in this season's success. "The loss in Grade 10 really pushed us," said Bridget Peros, a member of Canada's under-18 team. "That's when we realized it's not hand- ed to you. We went in confident, but were determined for that to never happen again." Playing J.F. Ross, the team that beat them in the final two years ago, presented some uncertainty. "We haven't had to play a lot of defence this season," said Taylor Black, the Rugby Canada youth player of the year, "and we hadn't played Ross yet so we weren't sure what to expect." J.F. Ross coach Mark Yanchus was expecting another tight battle between the teams that split the previous two fi- nals. But he was greeted with a team that had taken its game to another level. "They have powerful runners, their discipline, their ball skills and their com- munication was great," he said. "We knew we would have trouble handling them on the outside, and every time they got the ball out there. Taylor (Black) did a great job orchestrating attack after attack. They were flawless." And while Black and Peros bring high- level experience, they have plenty of sup- port as well. Alex Kinkartz and Jessika Hurd have both won national champi- onships. Jaden Walker scored nine tries at OF- SAA, tying Black for the team lead. Hurd, Peros, Emilie Demers and Sarah Penman also scored in the final while Anja DeV- ries and Gillian Groth kicked converts. In all, 10 different players scored a try at OFSAA. "A lot of teams have one or two players, but they didn't have the same depth we did," said OT assistant coach Ryan Perera. OT's success is also a great recruiting tool, drawing in players from other sports. Groth is a soccer player who took up rugby when her rep and high school soccer schedules conflicted. She never went back to high school soccer. "At first I thought, 'This is crazy.' It was so different," Groth said. "I could have gone back (to high school soccer) but I loved being part of this team. Year to year I kept getting into it more. It takes a lot of hard work but everyone works so well together and everyone is so commit- ted." SPORTS Taylor Black tosses a J.F. Ross opponent aside on her way to one of her four tries. The Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils completed a dominant season with a 71-0 win over their Guelph rivals in the OFSAA girls' rugby final. The Red Devils did not allow a single point all season as they won the provincial title for the third time in four years. Herb Garbutt/Metroland Unstoppable: Oakville Trafalgar crushes competition to win OFSAA girls rugby title - again Red Devils beat rival J.F. Ross 71-0 in gold-medal game HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@metroland.com