By: Matt Weingarden , Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeshore News Reporter
Once again, many Sabres teams showed their tenacity and grit, with SWOSSAA winners and WECSSAA finalists taking the spotlight.
Cross Country
The Sabre cross country team finished with excellent placements in their past two meets. On October 20, SWOSSAA was held in Sarnia to crown the best runners in Southwestern Ontario. Highlights included a 2nd place finish from Julia Carswell in the Novice Girls race, a 2nd and 13th finish from Leah Shannon and Juliet Gin in the Senior Girls, and dominant 1st place team finishes from the Senior Boys and Junior Girls, with Greyson Pitcher, Yousif Hamad, Alex Gin, and Ashton Maluske taking home 4th, 7th, 9th, and 18th, respectively. The junior girls, meanwhile, had the best overall score and most dominant win, including in other divisions, with Alexandra Pardalis, Kallie Zajacz, Nadiah Ciaramitaro, Marina Prvulovic, Lauren Howlett, Avery Carbanaro, and Tori Johnston all placing within the top 25, with finishes of 2nd, 4th, 9th, 16th, 18th, 19th, and 24th. The novice and junior girls, senior boys, and individual runner Leah Shannon all qualified for the race of all of the best runners of Ontario: OFSAA, which occurred in Ottawa on November 4th. Placements were headlined by Carswell finishing in 30th, Pardalis and Zajacz getting 34th, and 50th, Shannon placing in 35th, and Pitcher getting 67th. The novice girls team got 22nd, junior girls finished in 8th, and senior boys finished in 13th. After the event, Pardalis had this to say with the Post. “To be resilient or tough means to face challenges head on and strive for improvement. One bad race does not define who you are in the sport. Racing and training are often difficult but to persevere and overcome adversity defines who we are as runners.”
Senior Boys Volleyball
The boys had an excellent season, in which they only finished with three losses. That set them up for a playoff berth, and a bye. The boys handled St Anne in the semifinal but lost to the strong undefeated Holy Names team in the WECSSAA final. Another highlight of the season was the all-star honours, earned by 3 players. Left side Deklan Vlcek, setter Alex Gin, and left side Elliot Sohler earned 3rd, 2nd, and 1st team all-star, respectively. The team showed great improvement throughout the season, and are excited about the outcome, and their goal for next year includes winning that coveted WECSSAA Final.
Junior Football
The junior football team had a stellar season, only losing once to Kennedy, with two rare ties to Herman and Holy Names. Special shoutouts go to QB/LB/K/P Ajax Smith for his extreme commitment and effort on every play, RB Tucolin Downey for his speed and grit, scoring many touchdowns throughout the year, RB Sami “The Bull” Osman, who proves why they call him The Bull on every play, RB Rylee Bechard, who is always all over the field, and DL/OL Zakariah Agha and Justin Wood for their continued improvement. Sadly for the team, they lost to Holy Names in an amazing game in the 2nd round of the playoffs, with the first 15 plays of the game including five total tds. That was where the scoring stopped for the Sabres, with a loss of 35-21 in the WECSSAA semifinal. After the game, Smith told the Post “Our team looks at losses as a learning experience and a way to improve, losses are good because they don’t hide mistakes. I am very proud of our team this year, and thankful to our coaches and our supporters.” The boys certainly had an incredible season and are ready and willing to improve next year.
Senior Football
The senior football team’s season reached an unfortunate end with a hard-fought loss in the playoffs to Villanova. The team showed great improvement as the season went on, finishing with a 3-2 record, and 3rd place in total. The team was led by dominant performances overall from QB Aiden Britton, RBs Spencer Hyjek and Eli Dobsky, WR/K Matt Hummell, and the Perrone brothers (Ryan and Joey) on the line. Special mention goes to Hyjek, who committed to play football for the University of Guelph Griffons next year. Congratulations to the team for another successful season.
Senior Girls Basketball
Meanwhile, the senior girls basketball team played amazingly throughout the entire season, finishing 3rd overall in the regular season. After a dominant win over Massey, the team struggled against St. Anne in the semifinal, losing by double digits. Plenty of stars shined for the team throughout the season, including Leah Shannon, Annie Seagris, and Claire Boutros. Overall, the team is excited for, and looking forward to, next year’s proceedings.
Junior Girls Basketball
The girls finished with a 4-5 record in this season and were expected to fall short to the powerful Villanova team, who were ranked a seed ahead of them, but ended up playing amazingly, coming through with a tremendous win and defeating the mighty Wildcats. However, they lost to eventual champion St. Anne in the semifinal game. Specific mentions go to Lauren Ferasol and Ava Sims for their outstanding play throughout the season, as the girls look forward to next year.
Junior Boys Volleyball
The junior boys volleyball team had a disappointing season, however, there were some bright spots. Even though they only finished with a record of 2-8, there were many improvements shown over the season, with both wins coming in two of the last five games of the season. Unfortunately, the boys lost to Villanova 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs with an injured and depleted team.
As these seasons conclude, I want to congratulate all Sabre athletes on another successful season. To all graduating seniors, as we wish you well on your future endeavors.
Be the first to comment