Scoreboard

Junior Football: BR Comes Up Short in Overtime

Bishop Ryan is defeated by Cardinal Newman in championship game.

By: Jenna Frank

It was an extra special "Football Friday" for Bishop Ryan students today. The green and white students filled Ivor Wynne Stadium despite the cold weather to watch BR face off against Stoney Creek rivals Cardinal Newman, in the 2008 Junior Football Championship.

The game has been much anticpated by many all week long. Yesterday, Bishop Ryan particpated in a school wide pep rally to support the junior football team. Head coach, Mr. D'Intino, encouraged all students to come and watch the game during his hilarious, yet motivational speech. 

The only people more anxious than the student body were the players themselves. It was just last year that the underdog Celtic team managed to make it into the championship game against Newman. Although they lost a close game, they hope to turn things around this year and give the story a different, and happier ending for BR.

Yet again, the Celtics come into this game as the underdogs. The beginning of the season was a bit of a rough patch for the team. Slowly, they picked up momentum in time for playoffs. Last week, they beat the undefeated Bishop Tonnos Titans in semi-final action. 

Today, the junior team started off the game confident, as did Newman. They were ready for a tough fight from the Cardinals. The Celtic defense looked better than ever when it mattered most. The two, very evenly matched teams, were able to hold each other off long enough to bring the game into overtime. 

The Celtic team fought hard, but it wasn't enough. Newman managed to score a field goal, which ultimately won them the game.

The final score - Bishop Ryan 7, Cardinal Newman 10.

Orchard Park Patriots: HWDSB Division 2 Football Champions

Patriots Defeat Churchill Bulldogs 45-21
By Bonnie Chen

It isn't every year a team is given a second chance in the championships against the same team who defeated them the year before. The Division 2 HWDSB Football Championships was played at Ivor Wynne on Thursday November 13th with first ranked team, Orchard Park, and second ranked team, Sir Winston Churchill. Both of these schools entered this championship game with 6-1 regular season records.
During the regular season, the Patriots were defeated by Westmount 17-7, however, redeemed themselves by beating them in the semi-finals, 17-5. On the other hand, Churchill was defeated by Orchard Park 37-0, which proved to be Churchill's first loss in two years. Fans questioned whether or not Churchill was "out of their element" that game, or if Orchard Park won with a lot more than luck.
Although the weather was cold, each half of the stadium filled up with fans from both schools. This was the game each athlete anticipated when the season began. This was the game to prove which team wanted to take home the gold.
Before the game, defensive end, Derek Bergstrand of Orchard Park said: "We need to forget about our victory against the Bulldogs two weeks ago to defeat them tonight. You can't win a game based on previous results and stats so it becomes a game where the team has to perservere mentally." 

   

During the first half, Orchard Park's defensive line struggled to keep the Bulldogs away from their end zone allowing Churchill to have an early lead in the game. With the 7-0 score, Mathew Kit tied up the game for the Patriots with O.P's first touchdown. The back and forth scores continued as Churchill surpassed the Patriots defense once more. However, Jacob Kit picked up Churchill's fumble from their kickoff and tied up the game for Orchard Park. As the score rose to 14-14, the Patriots received another touchdown with a quarterback sneak by Zack Gray. Shortly afterwards, the Bulldogs returned the favour and ran into the Patriots end zone for the third time making the score tied at 21-21. This nail-biting game continued with great plays by both teams. Orchard Park's, Matt Pettie, gave his team the lead with a field goal as the second half of the game approached.

The score was 24-21 as both teams proved how badly they wanted this title. Although the Bulldogs could not score again on the Patriots strong defensive line, Orchard Park's offensive line continued to excel. Carlin McLean scored a touchdown and Mathew Kit added on two more during the second half to give Orchard Park a solid lead. As two minutes appeared on the scoreboard and the Orchard Park fans sang goodbye to the Bulldogs, the crowd knew that the Patriots had secured the win with a score of 45-21. 

The team poured water on head coach, Morealle, as the final whistle blew. 
Quarterback, Zack Gray said: "I'm glad we had the chance to redeem ourselves from last year. I think we really proved who the tougher and stronger team is. The game plan was to run them over, and we did."
The fans crowded the team on the field and continued to cheer as the boys received their medals for their well-deserved win.

   

 

Fullback, Colin Cyr stated that, "Everything was perfect tonight. It cleared up nicely and the fan support was unreal. The team worked unbelievably hard this year and we definitely deserved this. I think that everyone on this years team bonded with each other better than any other year I've played so far and it most definitely showed on the field."
Tight end, Aleks Januzovic added, "It was a great season. We worked hard everyday and it paid off in the end."

The entire team is congratulated for their victory against the Churchill Bulldogs in this championship game. Great plays were made by Derek Bergstrand with a quaterback sack, Bobby Dhaliwal with an interception, as well as Nathan Smith, Cody Cort, Cody Wright, Nikolas Cucuz, Kody Taylor and Money Gill.
Gill said: "The support from our coaches and our fans truly brought us through this season, especially winning this championship. All the bumps and bruises along the way have not gone forgotten but our desire to win the championship was unstoppable. We fought strong, we fought with heart, and we won."
Bobby Dhaliwal also said, "This win definitely feels better than last year's championship game. There are no words to describe how it feels to win. It still hasn't hit me yet but tonight proved that anything is possible."  

Runningback, Carlin McLean said: "Most of our seniors at O.P have never won a football championship since they've been in high school. We knew if we didn't win today it would take so much to win again. We knew this was the year that we had to win."
As the football season comes to an end, the Patriots have much to be proud for as they are now the Division 2 Champions of the city.

Steel City Miracle continues to get notice

Watch the Miracle

Written by: Nicole Siena

It has already been several days since the semi-final football game at Ivor Wynne stadium.Brebeuf Braves versus Cardinal Newman Cardinals, in a one-on-one showdown for a chance to be in the championship.
All was lost for the Braves until the last play of the game.

With just two seconds left, one of the best plays in high school football was achieved. All the hype since that day still hasn't had a chance to settle down. Between television interviews and replays, newspaper articles, you tube videos, and the over-excitement for the championship game. All has been great at the home of the Braves.
The play that has been deemed at the "Steel City Miracle" consisted of 5 laterals and one pass, giving the braves a one point win, and a one way ticket to the championships.  It started with Kwasi Kwajah passing to Spencer Moore, then a lateral to Joey Cupido who completed a lateral to Kwasi Kwajah, then to Mevand Wassel,  and finally a lateral to Spencer Moore, who finally throws a 25 yard lateral across the field back to Kwasi Kwajah who runs the ball for 35 yards for a touchdown.
This game will go down in history as being the greatest play of all time in Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board  Football.
The Braves meet their cross-mountain rivals; Saint Thomas Moore Knights in the Championship Game at Ivor Wynne Stadium on Friday November 14 at 1:00 PM.

Senior Boys Football: Churchill Bulldogs Bury Highland Hawks 30-10 in Semi-finals

By Ian Clarke

On Thursday November 6, Highland met the HWIAC Division 2 defending champions Churchill at Ivor Wynne Stadium for one of the division's semi-final games. It wasn't long ago when the two teams met for the first time with Churchill narrowly winning.


The first quarter started off well for Highland with a touchdown from running-back #8, Richard Marsdin, and the convert kick good from #11, Andrew Johnston. Churchill then came back with a touchdown and failed convert attempt to end the first quarter with a score of 7-6 for Highland.

Boys Football:Westdale Wins Against Ancaster 13-7

Westdale undefeated after seven games

 By Stephanie Teodoridis

On Thursday October 30, Westdale Secondary faced off in a game against Ancaster Senior,
coming away with a victory 13-7.
Westdale has currently won all seven games they've played, and have a total of fourteen points.
The Warriors next game on Thursday November 6th, will be against Delta. This will taking place at
Ivor Wynne Stadium and they will start playing at 7:00pm.

Stephanie Teodoridis is a Grade 9 student currently attending Westdale Secondary

Braves win Quarter-Final game against Gaels

By:  Nicole Siena

This past Friday Saint Jean de Brebeuf Braves faced the Cathedral Gaels in the Quarter- Final football game at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
The first half left the Gaels down 14-0, in a defensive showdown.  “[This] lead was entirely thanks to our defence” said James Collura, Left Offensive Tackle, and one of the team Capitan’s.   
Joey Cupido had an amazing first half, with a total of three interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns.
During the second half, the defence continued with two more interceptions (for a total of five by the end of the game), one of which was made by K.C Cupido, and another by Spencer Moore.
Offence started stepping up their game, with a great effort put forth by Eric Johnson, Mevand Wassel, Marcus Malisa, and Kwasi Kwajah.  
The game ended with a 31-0 win for the braves.
“The defence played extremely well... they kept us in the game. Overall, I am pleased with our effort” explained Head Coach Steve Alfano “But there is more work to be done”.  Brebeuf is set to play the semi-final game this Friday against Cardinal Newman.

A Celtic Sweep: Bishop Ryan 34, St. Mary's 0

Senior Boys Football team takes home a well deserved win. 

By: Jenna Frank

Last Friday night, Bishop Ryan's senior boys football team faced off against St. Mary's.

It was an eventful night for BR on the field. Ryan Kotar led the way as he rushed 100 yards with 12 carrys. He is also responsible for one touchdown.  Sean Blake had a great game scoring a touchdown after an interception against the Crusaders. Eric Cornell rushed 40 yards in 6 carrys and also added a touchdown to the scoreboard, as did Mike LeDonne.

Quarterback, Renato Rossi completed three of seven passes and pitched in a field goal.

This win brings the season record to 3-3. The boys are in action again on October 31.

Football: Orchard Park wins big over undefeated Churchill

Orchard Park: 37 Churchill: 0
By Bonnie Chen

GO. FIGHT. WIN. That's what the Patriots did this cold afternoon.
With the support of their fans, their family, and their entire school, the Sr. Boys Orchard Park team proved their skill today on the field.

     

Those who have seen the Patriots play can often say teamwork is their largest strength. They will always work together, fight together and win together. With this final season game of the year, O.P has completed their record to an incredible 6-1.

As the crowd of Patriots cheered this afternoon to support their boys, the team did not disappoint at all. Mathew Kit was the first to get the crowd going with the first touchdown of the game. Mike Starcevic added on the second touchdown afterwards. The Patriots were up 14-0 by half-time but knew they needed to be stronger in order to keep the Bulldogs out of their endzone. Quarterback, Zack Gray, scored Orchard Park's third touchdown in the second half. O.P's Nathan Smith and Derek Bergstrand then capitalized on two touchdown interceptions by returning them for touchdowns, which finalized the score to 37-0. Great conversions were also made by Matt Pettie.

   

Orchard Park's runningback, Colin Cyr, said: "We came out here knowing we had to win heading into the playoffs, and everyone definitely played their best. This one felt good though because a lot of us still remember our loss in the championships to them last year. We left everything we had on the field today and our new season starts next week."

Orchard Park has now ended their regular season as the first place team in the city. The entire team played well with the support of Coach Morealle, Coach Nurmi, Coach Beottger and Coach Walker. Special mention also goes out to James "Tunafish" Lekic, Kody Taylor, Bobby Dhaliwal, Rocco Iuso and Money Gill. However, the entire team is congratulated for their accomplishment of beating the undefeated Bulldogs.

   

Glendale vs. Saltfleet

By: Rachel Estok

Today, the Glendale football team defeated Saltfleet by a score of 24-6.  A great game was played by #28, with a touchdown in the first 5 minutes, and #9, with two touchdowns and all 3 converts.  The score was rounded out by a field goal in the final moments of the game by #54.  The single Saltfleet touchdown was scored by #32, but unfortunately they were not able to convert.  It was rough game, though, with injuries received by both teams.

Senior Football Delta vs. Macnab 7-0

Delta Raiders suffer their second loss of the season.
By Andrea Coulombe

Delta Raiders lose their second game of the season today against the Macnab Lions. With a score of 7-0 both teams played tough, completing the first half with a no scoring game. The Lions start the second half with a touch down, and completed conversion resulting in the 7-0 score. However, Delta's Mason Logue in particular played a strong game, always looking for opportunities to gain yards. After the game I had a chat with number 35 Iain Mcguigan, Delta's middle line backer and this is what he had to say about the game.
"one word, referees"
-Iain Mcguigan
Whether the game was fair is not the question, the question is will this loss for Delta encourage hard work for next weeks game, or could this minor set back be the beginning of the end for the Delta Raiders.