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Main schedules can be viewed by selecting the sport tab on the left. Click on the sport of your choice and then choose the schedule to get all divisions.
Calgary High School Sports Office:
Media Results line (to call in scores
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Address:
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#300, 8 Manning Close NE
Calgary, AB T2E 7N5
Phone: (403) 294-8672
Fax: (403) 294-8674
Email:
Executive Director
djmaxwell@cbe.ab.ca
Secretary Treasurer
llburmaster@cbe.ab.ca
If you have an interesting story about a high school athlete, email Todd Kimberley at the Calgary Herald
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Check out what's happening on the CBE junior high athletic scene
www.calgaryjuniorhighsports.com
07/08 City Champions:
Cross Country
Western Canada
Girls Soccer
Div I - Western Canada
Div II - Notre Dame
Div III - Queen Elizabeth
Football
Junior Div I - Henry Wise Wood
Junior Div II - Central Memorial
Junior Div III - Crescent Heights
Senior Div I - St Francis
(also provincial Tier I champions)
Senior Div II - Notre Dame
(also provincial Tier II champions)
Senior Div III - Crescent Heights
Volleyball
Junior Girls Div I - William Aberhart
Junior Girls Div II - JG Diefenbaker
Junior Boys Div I - Bishop Carroll
Junior Boys Div II - Centennial
Junior Boys Div III - Queen Elizabeth
Senior Girls Div I - Sir Winston Churchill
Senior Girls Div II - Notre Dame
Senior Girls Div III - James Fowler
Senior Boys Div I - St Francis
Senior Boys Div II - Ernest Manning
Senior Boys Div III - Crescent Heights
Wrestling
Girls - two teams tied in the city finals
Sir Winston Churchill & William Aberhart
Boys - John G. Diefenbaker
Basketball
Junior Girls Div I - St Francis
Junior Girls Div II - Bishop Grandin
Junior Girls Div III - Notre Dame
Junior Boys Div I - Bishop McNally
Junior Boys Div II - Henry Wise Wood
Junior Boys Div III - Ernest Manning
Senior Girls Div I - Sir Winston Churchill
Senior Girls Div II - Bishop Grandin
Senior Girls Div III - Forest Lawn
Senior Boys Div I - Sir Winston Churchill
Senior Boys Div II - Notre Dame
Senior Boys Div III - Father Lacombe
Swimming/Diving
Swimming-Bishop Carroll
Diving-Bishop Carroll
Badminton
Division A - Western Canada
(also Tier I Provincial Champion)
Track & Field
Junior Girls - Western Canada
Intermediate Girls - Dr. E.P. Scarlett
Senior Girls - Western Canada
Junior Boys - William Aberhart
Intermediate Boys - Dr. E.P. Scarlett
Senior Boys - Dr. E.P. Scarlett
Boys Soccer
Junior Division - Sir Winston Churchill
Senior Div I - Western Canada
Senior Div II - Notre Dame
Senior Div III - Bishop O'Byrne
Field Hockey
Junior Division - John G. Diefenbaker
Senior Div I - Sir Winston Churchill
Senior Div II - St. Mary's
Senior Div III - Ernest Manning
Rugby
Girls Div I - Western Canada
Girls Div II - Bowness
Girls Div III - Ernest Manning
Junior Boys - Henry Wise Wood
Senior Boys Div I - Bowness
Senior Boys Div II - St. Mary's
Senior Boys Div III - Forest Lawn
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MEDIA NEWS 2008
Redmen beat weary Coyotes for soccer title
June 6, 2008
JON ROE FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
Two games in two nights were too much for the Centennial High School Coyotes.
A rested Western Canada Redmen team easily walked over a tired Coyotes squad to take a 4-0 victory and the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association boys’ Division 1 soccer title on Thursday at Foothills Athletic Park.
Graduation ceremonies forced the Coyotes to play their semifinal against the Bishop Grandin Ghosts on Wednesday.
“We went from one game to the next with no rest,” said Coyotes coach Michael Boutin. “So our players were a little bit beat up.”
The Redmen took advantage of the tired ’Yotes early and scored midway through the first half off of a free kick from midfield. Orgesi Kuburi gathered up the ball after it was put into the Coyotes’ box and knocked it past Centennial goalkeeper and captain Shawn Barber.
“The team seemed a little fatigued in the first couple minutes, then they scored that first goal and we kind of got down on ourselves,” Barber said.
Boutin described Barber, a Grade 11 student, as the best ’keeper in the city, and he proved it with several spectacular saves and successful aggressive challenges to keep the game within reach for Centennial.
Captain Evan Pivnick, who backstopped the Redmen to the shutout victory, was elated his team won the city crown in his final year.
“It’s hard to put into words,” he said. “It’s everything, it’s exactly what I wanted to end my season with . . . walking away with a plaque and a banner, (and putting) our name up on the wall in Western.”
The two young squads, with a half-dozen Grade 12s between them, marched divergent paths to the city final. For the Redmen, anything less than the title would have been disappointing after they finished the regular season undefeated and scored 22 goals, nine better than the next-best team.
“We’ve gone undefeated into playoffs before,” said Western coach Cito Ariza. “I think that’s what’s kept us grounded: We’ve experienced losing after being so dominant in the season.”
The Coyotes finished in seventh place and narrowly made the playoffs, then upset the city’s No. 2 and No. 3 seeds along the way.
Unfortunately, Wednesday’s semifinal game cost the Coyotes one of their best players, Charlie Beaulieu. A red card made him ineligible for Thursday’s championship. Beaulieu scored two goals against the Ghosts.
“Had he been in the game today, it probably would’ve been a little bit different,” said Boutin.
The Coyotes surrendered a penalty shot right before halftime and the Redmen’s Tom Widdowson slipped it under Barber to give Western a 2-0 advantage. Adam Zymerski and Iskundar Harun scored in the second half to seal the game and the title for the Redmen.
Meanwhile, at Calgary Rugby Park on Thursday, the St. Mary’s Saints beat the John G. Diefenbaker Chiefs to claim the CSHSAA senior boys’ Division 2 rugby crown, the Bowness Trojans defeated the Saints 22-10 to win the girls’ Division 2 championship and the Henry Wise Wood Warriors knocked off the Trojans 25-17 for the junior boys’ city title.
The senior Division 2 score was unavailable from the CSHSAA at press time.
Pride captures its first crown
Notre Dame clips John Diefenbaker in Division 2 final
June 5, 2008
RITA MINGO FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
As a restauranteur, Claudio Carnali knows the recipe for a great seafood risotto. As a soccer coach, he apparently also knows the ingredients for success.
Carnali watched with some apprehension Wednesday afternoon as his Notre Dame senior boys’ squad captured the first soccer title in the young high school’s history, defeating John G. Diefenbaker 3-1 to cop the Division 2 crown.
“Lots of talented kids,’’ said a smiling Carnali, who happily forwent duties at his restaurant, Il Gallo Nero, to be on the sidelines with the Pride. “It was very stressful. We had played them before and we had wasted a couple of opportunities. We prepared three or four days for this game. My one request to them was ‘never relax.’ ’’
As both teams finished the regular season with 6-1 records and with virtually equal goals-for and against (31-5 for the Chiefs, 31-4 for the Pride), a close match was to be expected. And that was the pattern early on.
But once Notre Dame took the advantage on first-half goals by Mark Muller and Juan Castro, the Chiefs were forced to press forward with greater urgency and were largely repelled by the Pride.
“I think we have the greatest defence in the city,’’ praised Carnali, who will lose a handful of Grade 12s next season. “We’ll be ready for it.’’
“This was a good way to finish,’’ suggested Muller, one of the graduating players who is heading off to St. Francis Xavier to play football. “We held them pretty good and we were strong at the back.’’
Another youngster who has played his last for the Pride is Sonny Gaetano, one of those whom Carnali believes has been a key cog in the team’s accomplishments.
“Last year, we had a really good team, but we got knocked out in the semis,’’ the 17-year-old said. “I think this year we were committed . . . composed.’’
Gaetano just returned from the Netherlands where he was on a twoweek trial with SC Cambuur. He’s been invited back to their youth academy and is also planning on heading to Scotland for more development.
Stephane Desautels had the third Notre Dame tally, while Jason Page was the lone Chief to score against goalkeeper Noel Nantais.
Diefenbaker was promoted to Division 2 this year after winning Division 3 last spring.
“We’re a younger team,’’ explained Karanvir Dhah, first-year coach of the Chiefs. “We have a lot of Grade 10 and 11s, and they’re all looking to come back next year. I was very pleased. We only let in one open-play goal all season long; the rest were on set pieces. Today, two of the goals were on set pieces.’’
At the adjacent Glenmore Athletic Park field, the Bishop O’Byrne Trailblazers upended the Central Memorial Rams 6-2 to win the Division 3 title.
Western Canada girls golden on rugby pitch
June 4, 2008
HEATHER MCINTYRE FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
These girls are still golden — and they’re now heading to Edmonton in search of a provincial title. ... The Western Canada Redmen demolished the Bishop O’Byrne Trailblazers 41-13 on Tuesday afternoon in the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association girls’ Division 1 city rugby championship at Calgary Rugby Park.
The victory pushed the Redmen’s record to 8-0 this season — and in three city playoff games, Western Canada outscored its opposition 127 to 18, its smallest margin of victory 27 points.
Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association provincials begin Friday in Edmonton.
“Our No. 8 kept running in and getting it to the backs,” said centre Megan Kurcwal, who scored a try early in the dominant win, looping left around the opposing defence to score. “It was a tough game, but we worked really hard. Every one of us was on our game. We really wanted it.”
The Redmen’s male counterparts weren’t so lucky — as the Bowness Trojans continued their season-long domination Tuesday by coming from behind to beat Western’s boys 30-10 for the CSHSAA senior boys’ Division 1 city crown.
In the girls’ final, O’Byrne trailed 24-3 at halftime, managing a penalty and a converted try in the final session — but that was as close as the Trailblazers would get.
“Bishop O’Byrne is a good team to play,” said Western’s head coach Ed McCann. “They like to play the same kind of rugby we like to play. We just managed to be much better and close down (their) attack.”
The Redmen succeeded more often in getting the ball out to their backs, and played the majority of the game on the offensive, rarely seeing the ball in their own zone.
Kurcwal was one of a handful of players who stood out on an outstanding team. Sydney Kernahan was another, making her presence known by walking through three players on her way to score a try in the second half.
“I just ran up the side. The girls were coming at me and I managed to get around them,” shrugged the Grade 11 student.
In the Division 1 boys’ final, Western played a near-perfect first half, leading early on a penalty goal. But the Trojans got their legs under them, storming back to take a 13-10 lead at the break.
“They’re a big, tough pack, and they kept the ball in tight,” said Trojans head coach Al Rodbourne. “We had a lot of nerves, for whatever reason, and were lucky to be ahead at the half.”
In the second half, the Redmen simply couldn’t keep up. Bowness “picked up the tempo,” said Western’s coach Bruce Brunette of his team’s demise. “When it was 25-10 with 10, 15 minutes left, (our) spirit was broken.”
Captain and No. 8 Andrew Cho was the Trojans’ best player. Singlehandedly setting up one try, he played what Rodbourne called his best game in a month.
“We came out a little slow,” said an excited Cho. “We got our heads back into it after the first half; our coach gave us a good talk. I’m glad the boys pulled it out.”
The Trojans’ undefeated 8-0 season, including a win at the inaugural Clearwater Cup, will be capped off in Edmonton at provincials. The Trojans and the Redmen (7-1) will represent Calgary in the tournament and will meet again in their first game Friday.
“We fumbled our way through,” said Rodbourne. “But these guys deserve to be city champions.”
Bulldogs fetch field hockey title
Churchill crushes Redmen in final
June 4, 2008
JON ROE FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
The Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs continued their high-scoring ways Tuesday afternoon. And the 5-0 score against the Western Canada Redmen proved more than enough to earn them the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association senior Division 1 field hockey city crown.
The Bulldogs had finished the regular season with 15 goals in six games, then smacked home 10 more in three playoff games during their CSHSAA championship run. But there was no indication they’d be able to run up the score against Western Canada. The teams’ two previous meetings this season had ended in scoreless draws.
Bulldogs coach Stephanie Maxwell was happy her team came together in the final at the University of Calgary’s Hawkings Field.
“This is the best they’ve played all season,” Maxwell said. “They actually showed up to play. We’ve played them twice before, and both have been scoreless games and both had been really tight. We showed up today, which was awesome to see for all the Grade 12s for their last game.”
Graduating Bulldogs’ co-captains Briar Lowe-Wylde and Megan Hart, who both scored, shared Maxwell’s sentiment.
“We played as a team, and we never normally do, so it was really good,” said Lowe-Wylde, who put Churchill up 2-0 after a short corner scramble just over 15 minutes into the first half.
“It was the first time we came out so strong. We’re actually a secondhalf team, but we came out right from the start,” noted Hart.
The Bulldogs scored three goals in the first half. Hart capped off the scoring near the end of the second half, cracking it in from the 16-yard line off of a Bulldogs short corner.
Just moments earlier, she nailed a shot from just about the same spot and nearly took off the heads of the defending Redmen. The Redmen failed to clear the zone, surrendering a short corner, and Hart capitalized.
Ten players from the Bulldogs, including Lowe-Wylde and Hart, also won the CSHSAA junior city title over the Redmen two years ago.
“It feels awesome . . . we lost last year because we were cocky,” LoweWylde said. “It’s so good to win the last year.”
Jenna McBride, Michelle Cox and Erin Roberts also scored for the Bulldogs, who thoroughly controlled the play throughout the match.
Despite the lopsided loss, graduating Redmen right middle and captain Emma Neef enjoyed the game. “It was exciting, a little frustrating. I thought we played hard, but we could’ve played a little smarter,” she said.
Redmen head coach Anne Kromm felt some of her young players were nervous.
“We did have some opportunities we didn’t capitalize on,” said Kromm. “Free hits outside the circle being raised in, that’s just a lack of experience — young players getting nervous in the city finals. If we would’ve popped one in, it maybe would’ve changed the momentum and been a different game.”
Provincial High School Basketball Championships
Redmen pay dearly for this 4A ticket
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
March 11 '08 The Western Canada High School senior boys earned a spot in 4A provincials by winning a bronze medal in city basketball playoffs, but it came at a high price.
The Redmen lost their star player, Rito Joseph, to an ankle sprain, and he may not be back in time for this weekend’s Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association provincial tournament, which runs from Thursday through Saturday at a dozen city high schools.
Joseph has what has been described by his coach as “between a Grade 1 and 2” sprain, and could miss the No. 10-ranked Redmen’s opening game Thursday at 7 p.m. against the visiting No. 7 seeds, the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds of Edmonton.
“We don’t know if he is going to be back or not,” says Steve Wiebe, senior boys’ head coach at Western.
“He’s going hard on the physiotherapy, so we’ll see what happens.”
Joseph was sidelined during last weekend’s 89-83 city Division 1 semifinal loss to Centennial.
The Coyotes dropped a close city final to the provincially No. 1-ranked Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs, 109-100, in the final minutes.
Could things have turned out differently if not for the injury to Joseph? Wiebe doesn’t like to play the what-if game.
“I don’t think Centennial would have had an answer for Rito,” says Wiebe. “I don’t think anybody in the city has an answer for him.”
Joseph is second in points scored for the Redmen, and leads the team in rebounds and blocked shots.
With a young roster full of Grade 11s, the Redmen are looking to pull off an upset or two at these 4A provincials, which Wiebe classifies as a wide-open race.
“I think it’s anybody’s tournament, to be honest,” he says.
Meanwhile, a pair of city playoff losses last weekend may prove to be good medicine for Calgary’s fourth entry this weekend, the Dr. E.P. Scarlett Lancers. The provincial No. 12 seeds were bombed by Churchill in a city semifinal before losing bronze to Western.
Scarlett coach Tom Bishop says his squad learned its lesson from Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association post-season disappointment.
Bishop says his Lancers are ready to make some noise at provincials, starting Thursday at 5 p.m. in their own gym against the No. 5 Cardston Cougars.
“I know the feeling coming out of our last game on Friday is — they’re hungry now,” said Bishop. “That’s not a bad thing going into provincials.”
A six-year veteran of Canada’s national basketball team, Bishop should have a pretty good idea of what his team is capable of, even if they too have been bitten by the injury bug.
The Lancers lost starting point guard Schaffer Montgomery to an ankle injury in city quarter-finals. Bishop said the timing of the injury hurts his team, but it has enough bench depth to get by.
“You almost want to have an injury early in the season so you can rebound from it, rather than this point of the season when it’s make-orbreak time,” says Bishop.
The St. Mary’s Saints are Calgary’s fifth and final entry at provincials, ranked 13th of 16 teams.
Provincial High School Basketball Championships
Underdog Rams ready to unleash run-’n’-gun
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
March 11 '08 The Central Memorial Rams are looking up at the big dogs of Calgary high school girls basketball hoping their run-and-gun style will get them a medal at this weekend’s 4A provincial tournament.
Lacking a big post player, Rams head coach Brian Hutton has his team playing a familiar up-tempo style of basketball — one that doesn’t always match up well with big Division 1 teams such as the Centennial Coyotes or city champion Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs.
“We are the Phoenix Suns prior to Shaq. We didn’t make big trades at the deadline,” wisecracks Hutton.
The Rams were outgunned by Centennial, 83-53, for city bronze last week.
Seeded 11th of 16 teams at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association 4A tournament being held at 13 high schools across Calgary this weekend, Central hopes to bounce back in its first provincial assignment Thursday, a5 p.m. home date versus the No. 6 Archbishop O’Leary Spartans of Edmonton.
“I don’t think you can make major changes going into a tournament,” says Hutton. “(If you do), you’re going to screw it up.”
Instead, he’ll just rely on the talented backcourt that transformed the Rams from a No. 11 seed in the Higher Hoops pre-season tournament to the fourthbest Calgary team headed to provincials in the course of one season.
“The big surprise this year is Rya Daggett, our Grade 10 (point guard), just phenomenal, playing way beyond her years,” says Hutton.
Playing in provincials for just the second time in school history, according to Hutton, the Rams will also be looking towards Jessica Williams and lights-out shooter Kate Storey to lead them.
Storey dropped eight of 11 three-pointers against Western Canada in city playoffs and, if the Rams shoot like that against the top dogs at provincials, there may be an upset or two in the works.
Meanwhile, over at Centennial, head coach Cheryl Kryluk says the pressure is off the Coyotes at provincials after that city bronze medal.
The Bulldogs topped the St. Mary’s Saints 72-53 in Saturday’s city Division 1 final, and it’s those two schools that are sweating bullets, says Kryluk.
“I think the pressure is on people like Churchill and those that are repeat provincial qualifiers,” she says.
After a fourth-place finish at provincials last spring, the Bulldogs are ranked No. 3 this weekend and are Calgary’s top threat to earn 4A gold.
The No. 9-ranked Coyotes’ first assignment comes Thursday at 5 p.m. at home against the No. 8-seeded Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams.
Kryluk has her squad of underdogs thinking spoiler this weekend. Led by point guard Stephanie Chomyn and forward Stephanie Inman, the Coyotes have a good inside-outside blend to their offence.
“Between the two, they’re a nice combination. We should probably utilize them more,” says Kryluk.
The Western Canada Redmen secured Calgary’s fifth and final berth to 4A provincials, and are ranked 13th.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Churchill boys finish off sweep
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
March 9 '08 Sir Winston Churchill pulled off a sweep of the Division I basketball finals, as the boys’ team knocked off the Centennial Coyotes 109-100 on Saturday night.
As late as the final two minutes, it looked like the Churchill boys were not going to be able to match the girls’ win earlier at Crescent Heights.
But led by a six-point fourth quarter from Scott Peris, the Churchill Bulldogs pulled away in the final minutes.
Neither team could maintain more than a three-point lead until the end of the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs outmuscled the Coyotes in the paint and earned the top seed heading into the provincial championships next week.
“We knew Centennial was going to be a really good game because they are very similar to us,” said Mike Fullerton, head coach at Sir Winston Churchill. “It was going to be won on the boards and that probably proved to be true at the end.”
Chris Boudier had two crucial points for the Bulldogs at the two-minute mark to give his team a five-point lead from which they never looked back.
“I think our inside presence and the rebounds really helped,” said Boudier.
James Wohlgeschaffen nailed a three-point shot to give the Coyotes 99 points, but Centennial’s shooting went cold late and they could only manage one more point.
Centennial trailed by seven at the start of the third quarter, but Wohlgeschaffen stole the ball and dropped in two of his game-high 34 points to give Centennial a one-point lead 87-86 in the fourth.
Led by Peris and Jordan Tudor, who had 19 points each, five Bulldogs racked up double digits in points.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Bulldogs roar back for title
Churchill rallies over St. Mary’s for Girls Division I crown
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
March 9 '08 Sir Winston Churchill overcame a six-point second-half deficit to win the senior girls Division I basketball championship at Crescent Heights High School on Saturday night.
Led by city all-star Alex Cole’s 10point second half, the Churchill Bulldogs rallied and overcame a 37-31 deficit to win 72-53 over the St. Mary’s Saints.
Cole was cold through two quarters, but heated up down the stretch and finished with 12 points.
“In the first half, none of our shots were falling, but we said ‘just keep shooting and they will fall,’ ” said Cole. “Eventually they did.”
Cole wasn’t the only Bulldog with shooting troubles in the first two frames. Lindsay Doland only had two points through two, but finished tied with Katie Arbuthnot for the team lead in scoring in the game at 14 points.
“We just got all our nerves out — we were really nervous in the first half,” said Cole. “But we put that behind us and it was a new game at the half.”
Owners of the best defence in senior girls Division 1 high school basketball, the Bulldogs had four steals in the first quarter, but were surprised by the Saints in the first half.
Chelsey Pekar had five points to put the Saints up 26-21 midway through the second quarter. Churchill closed to within three, but Pekar dropped two plus the free throw and Paige Holy sunk a two-point shot to give the Saints a six-point lead.
Calming his team down at the half, Bulldogs head coach Rick Frey knew they could hold the Saints back.
“We told the girls all season long that the second half was our half, that we wear teams down,” said Frey.
Just as Churchill got hot, the Saints’ shooting, so good in the first two frames, got cold.
Cole drained her only three-point shot of the game to make the score 65-51 and snuff out any hope the Saints had left late in the fourth quarter
Four of the Bulldogs finished in double digits — Cole, Doland, Arbuthnot and Megan MacLean, who racked up 12 points.
“They just ignited at the end. The whole core of kids with Katie, Megan and K.J. (Fridfinnson) in there to relieve Alex at the post. It’s just a team effort, all 11 kids stepping up,” said Frey.
Tracie Zahavich dropped in a threepoint shot in the fourth quarter to finish with 13 points. Other than Pekar, Zahavich was the only other Saint to finish in double digits.
Jr Varsity High School Basketball City Championships
Balanced Browns top Lancers
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
March 8 '08 The St. Francis Browns overcame the 30-point performance of Dr. E.P. Scarlett Lancers’ Lauren Tolley to capture the girls’ junior division one basketball city final Friday night at Crescent Heights High School.
The Browns had five players in double digits in their 78-71 victory.
St. Francis coach Matthew Hanna said, with the exception of Tolley, the Browns did a good job of shutting down Scarlett’s shooters.
“It was our defence tonight and you can see from the balanced scoring, offensively we did a good job of spreading the ball around,” said Hanna.
Florence Oloya led St. Francis with 19 rebounds and 10 points. Victoria Moretti scored 15 points and added 10 rebounds.
“We believed all year long that we had a very deep team,” said Hanna. “We have been lucky enough to play everybody almost all season. There were only a couple of games here that not everybody got into and that was a big part of how we did today.”
With just one regular-season loss, the Browns earned a first seed in the playoffs.
The Lancers, who upset Henry Wise Wood in the semifinals, opened with a 4-0 run Friday, but the Browns scored six straight to take the lead.
Opening the second half strong, the Lancers closed to within one, 43-42. However, Karlen Majcher dropped in two points to cap an 18-2 run as the Browns grabbed a 66-47 lead in the third quarter.
Tolley led all scorers, but a lack of secondary options hurt the Lancers.
Hanna knew the Browns couldn’t keep Tolley off the scoreboard, but thought if they could keep the other Lancers under wraps, St. Francis would prevail.
“It’s hard to shut down players like that,” said Hanna. “You sort of hope that you can control the rest of the team and hope you can limit her as much as possible.”
In the junior boys’ division one final, Bishop McNally outscored Bishop O’Byrne, 86-64.
McNally’s speed forced turnovers and the Timberwolves led the entire second half.
“Obviously you work on it as a coach, but we’re just blessed with 12 kids coming out to the school. Sometimes they just fall out of the tree for you,” said McNally coach Dave Finn.
In division three, Ernest Manning beat Forest Lawn, 60-56, in the junior boys final while Notre Dame defeated Manning 55-52 in the junior girls final.
High School Basketball
Griffins gang excels at ‘team togetherness’
Manning 9-1 in regular season
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
March 5 '08 They’ve got first place in their pocket, and an ‘A’ for attitude. Diandra Bridges has to struggle constantly to field competitive senior girls’ basketball teams at Ernest Manning High School, because of the school’s relatively small enrolment numbers.
But this season, the Griffins formed an uncommonly strong bond, finishing 9-1 in the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association and entering the playoffs Tuesday evening clutching the No. 1 seed in CSHSAA Division 3.
“Within the team there is no arguing and I really work hard to ensure that I don’t take anyone who has a poor attitude,” says Bridges, the Griffins’ second-year head coach.
The Griffin girls began testing their teamwork Tuesday with a Division 3 quarter-final engagement against Cochrane’s visiting St. Timothy Thunder.
Bridges has been pleasantly surprised by her players’ willingness to spend time together.
At a tournament earlier this season in Rocky Mountain House, Bridges suddenly noticed that her players’ rooms were strangely quiet.
She discovered all 11 players congregated in one room watching a movie together.
“That is what’s important to me — is that without my asking they feel that is important,” says Bridges. “They want to hang out with each other.”
Bridges has laboured to make sure the team’s chemistry remains undisturbed, and won’t allow any negative influences in the locker-room. No such concerns this season. “It’s almost like magic watching them,” says Bridges.
“I don’t even know if . . . they can see that. I’m wondering if they are that in tune with each other.”
Casey Hodge alternates between wing or post. The Griffins’ leading rebounder at five foot eight, she’s a shining example of this group’s dedication to team.
“I see some other teams that we play and it’s like they just play together, practise and that’s it. They have no other team togetherness,” says Hodge, 17.
In between games at a tournament in early February, the Griffins headed out en masse and had T-shirts — with their number and a nickname — made up for use during warm-ups.
“Usually teams are there just for practice and games, but we hang out outside of basketball a lot,” says Manning point guard Jocey Holmgren.
High School Basketball
U.S. prodigy sparks Forest Lawn revival
It’s a Texas-sizedturnaround
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
March 5 '08 The Forest Lawn Titans haven’t had much to cheer for in senior girls’ basketball the past few years, pocketing just 10 wins in a 30-game span and slumping to a 2-8 mark last winter. Then along came Texas. Kayla Watkins, known as Texas to her teammates, stepped into the Forest Lawn lineup this season and helped the Titans build a 9-1 record — good enough to earn a share of first place in the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association’s Runquist Division, and their first playoff berth in recent memory.
Forest Lawn kicked off the post-season on Tuesday evening by hosting the Father Lacombe Lasers in a Division 3 city quarter-final showdown.
Watkins is “able to make plays out of just about nothing,” says Titans head coach Jennifer Walker. “She can move the ball around, if she has to, she can drive the hoop and she can manage to put it in through three or four people.”
Watkins is the first 15-year-old in school history to crack the lineup of a Titans senior girls’ basketball squad.
She grew up in Princeton, Texas, a town about half an hour north of Dallas, but moved to Calgary to live with her stepmother and enrolled at Forest Lawn in time for the 2007-08 scholastic year.
Accustomed to a more aggressive style of ball, Watkins immediately took her place among the team’s best players. “I put my heart and soul into it,” says Watkins. “It’s like magic being there.”
Watkins played in the under-14 national basketball championship last year in the U.S., and she’s already been tagged by the University of Texas Longhorns as a prospect.
She isn’t worried that toiling in relative anonymity north of the 49th parallel will hurt her chances at cracking the roster of a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 outfit.
“I don’t believe so, because if you’re a good player they are going to seek you out, no matter where you’re at, if they want you that bad,” says Watkins, who headed south of the border to play in a tournament at the Christmas break, just to stay on scouts’ minds.
Walker says Watkins’ combination of dribbling skills, shot fakes and effort allow her to tower above other girls her age.
She’s positive the underaged Watkins will eventually be one of the best players she’s coached at Forest Lawn.
“I think she will certainly be. I mean, she’s a Grade 10 playing on the senior team, right?” says Walker. “In two years, when she’s a senior, she will be by far the best player on our team.”
Forest Lawn lost a tiebreaker to Ernest Manning High School on points scored that would have given them the top seed in this week’s CSHSAA playoffs. Instead, the Titans settled for a No. 3 ranking and Tuesday’s home playoff date against No. 6 Lacombe. Manning and Forest Lawn have a burgeoning rivalry. Besides meeting in tournaments, the Titans ruined the Griffins’ bid for an unblemished season when they took a 61-58 decision on Feb. 28.
“It’s kind of been a battle between us,” says Watkins, who had 23 points in that win over Manning. “They’ve won against us three times and we’ve beaten them twice.”
If the Titans and No. 1-seeded Griffins are to meet again this season, it’ll be for the city Division 3 title on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Crescent Heights.
Watkins is ready for this week’s challenges, and the possibility of meeting Manning again.
“It doesn’t matter where I’m at,” she says, “as long as I’m playing ball.”
High School Basketball
Bulldogs have some serious bite
Four Churchill seniors moving onto varsity level
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
Feb 27 '08 In his 22 years of coaching senior girls’ basketball at Sir Winston Churchill High School, Rick Frey thinks this year’s edition is arguably the best he’s seen. Frey can only think of one team that might come close to the calibre of this year’s Bulldogs — the 19992000 senior girls, who lost to Dr. E.P. Scarlett in the 4A provincial final.
Frey believes his current team has a good chance to go one better and win all the marbles.
“The only difference between this group and that group is that I probably have more depth in this one. Both groups were ranked one or two in the province all season,” says Frey.
Churchill sits No. 2 in the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association’s midseason basketball rankings, just behind Edmonton’s Harry Ainlay Titans.
With a 7-0 mark in the northern grouping of the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association’s Dolan Division, the Bulldogs possess the best defence in girls’ Division 1 basketball, having allowed 42.3 points a game heading into Tuesday’s home game against the William Aberhart Trojans (3-5).
Piled on top of that is the fact that four of their seniors have already committed to play post-secondary sports in one form or another.
Team captains Alex Cole and Katie Arbuthnot have signed to play for the University of Calgary and University of Alberta, respectively.
Megan MacLean, a five-foot-eight guard-forward with a vertical touch of nine-foot-seven, has also committed her athletic talents to Shawnee Harle’s Dinos.
Forward Lindsey Doland is good enough to play volleyball or basketball in university. She won the Myrna Empey Award as the CSHSAA’s top volleyballer in November, and has decided to try out for the Dinos volleyball team.
Two other guards for Sir Winston Churchill are looking at the university/college route but haven’t made an official declaration yet. Jordanne Holstein may be headed for Halifax’s Dalhousie University, while Robyn Whittaker may play for Red Deer or Lethbridge of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
Amazingly, this team has been together, more or less in the same form, since winning the junior girls’ city championship in 2005-06.
Cole thinks this will be the year when all the pieces finally come together. “We have basically been playing together since Grade 10, so we have been waiting for this for a long time,” says Cole, 17.
At the start of the year many around the high school basketball scene thought that Churchill would be the team to beat. But Frey knows his Bulldogs still have a lot of basketball left to play.
City playoffs for both girls and boys tip off March 4. Senior finals will be held March 8.
“Everybody thought we were a shoo-in early, but I also know that there is a couple of squads up in Edmonton that are very, very strong,” says Frey.
“Can we win? Yes. Can those other teams up there win it? Yes. It just depends who is going to come and play that weekend.”
Arbuthnot, a point guard, says she felt the pressure to win back at the start of team training in November.
“A little bit. I think to be a successful team, you have to think that you can win it, right?” says Arbuthnot, 17. “We came in pretty confident in ourselves. We’ve been working hard and we’ve backed it up pretty well.”
High School Basketball
Lafferty follows family footsteps on the hardwood
Grandfather wasscouted by Red Auerbach
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
Feb 27 '08 When Dan Lafferty looks around for inspiration, he only has to think back to his basketball-playing grandfather.
Lafferty is an undersized six-foot, 165-pound, small forward who leads the Bishop Grandin Ghosts in scoring and rebounds. His grandfather, Gerry Lafferty, made a name for himself playing in a Montreal senior men’s league.
Back in the day, the senior Lafferty was good enough to attract the attention of the legendary Red Auerbach, a member of the NBA Hall of Fame.
Gerry was asked by Auerbach to play for the Boston Celtics during the team’s heydays of the 1950s and ’60s, when the Celtics collected National Basketball Association championships like some people collect stamps.
But Gerry never got his chance. The Lafferty clan consisted of six sisters and a brother who needed looking after, and Gerry’s mom, Dan’s greatgrandmother, decided that he needed to stay at home rather than chasing the elusive NBA dream.
Fortunately the Lafferty bloodline carries in it a love of basketball and natural athleticism passed down through the generations.
Dan Lafferty learned to play from his dad, Tim Lafferty, who learned from his own dad.
“Basketball is pretty much my life. Without it in school, I don’t know what I would do,” says Dan, 18.
Tim Lafferty sometimes takes his son along to play in a local men’s league, giving him pointers on how to defend or score against bigger players.
“I try not to do too much. The coaches at Grandin are good,” says Tim Lafferty.
Tim no doubt was beaming with pride when Dan was named to the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association’s city-wide Selects all-star game in mid-February.
“It’s too bad his grandfather is not around, he would be proud of him too,” says Tim.
Gerry Lafferty passed away in 2005 but the family has a book full of clippings from his playing days.
Gerry wasn’t the type to brag, but his friends used to say that he could have been as good as Bob Cousy, renowned Celtics point guard and yet another Hall of Fame member.
Sometimes Dan will look through those clippings, wondering about what could have been for his grandfather. “Basketball has pretty much always been around in our family,” says Dan. With the Lafferty family’s basketball legacy hanging around Dan, he surprisingly doesn’t feel like he has to be a university or college star once he graduates, and his father doesn’t want him to feel that way either. Dan is leaning toward Mount Royal College or the University of British Columbia.
“We talked about that and he doesn’t feel any pressure,” says Tim, who played college ball himself in Quebec.
The Ghosts carried a 3-5 record in the south grouping of the CSHSAA’s Morgan Division into Tuesday’s home game against the Henry Wise Wood Warriors (0-8).
High School Wrestling
Wrestling helped Stuart pin troubles
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
Feb 6 '08 If it wasn’t for the timely intervention of a certain teacher, Cat Stuart would have missed out on plenty of grappling glory.
Stuart was all set to change high schools in January 2007. She was headed to a meeting with a guidance counsellor to discuss the possibility of a move from John G. Diefenbaker to Crescent Heights, and a fresh start.
Her crowd of friends were dragging her down, going nowhere fast, and she was on board the sinking ship with them.
“When you hang out with bad people, you get painted with the same brush,” said Stuart, a Grade 11 student at Diefenbaker.
That’s when James McKeage stepped in. McKeage was then a wrestling coach at Diefenbaker, and he invited Stuart to wrestling practice. One session was all the convincing she needed.
Stuart didn’t look back. She went all the way to Alberta high school provincials, taking second place in the girls’ 80-kilogram category.
Stuart and the rest of the Chiefs will host this year’s city championships Feb. 27 and 28. Provincials will be held March 7 and 8 in Edmonton.
McKeage, who now coaches at Sir Winston Churchill, says last year’s prize catch would have made it to provincials with or without his help, but Stuart gives McKeage and the rest of coaches full credit for supporting her.
“People push you beyond your limits. Without that I would have given up,” says Stuart.
Going back 13 months, McKeage recalls the change in Stuart as immediate. Her attitude underwent a complete turnaround.
“The look in her eye changed. She became a positive young lady,” says McKeage.
Wrestling was kind of a default choice for Stuart — or so she says.
“I'm not a very fast person, so basketball was kind of out of the question. I'm not very flexible, so dance team was out of the question,” says Stuart.
She could take or leave the hard work of four weekly practices and regular weekend meets, but the friends Stuart makes are what keep her on the mat.
“The idea of team is really strong. It’s a very accepting place to be,” says Stuart of her diverse set of Diefenbaker mates.
Stuart is leaning towards social work at Mount Royal College once the September application date comes around. She relishes the thought of putting her life experiences to work, helping others avoid the pitfalls of the party scene.
In April, Stuart will also hit the mats at the cadet/juvenile nationals in Saskatoon: “It has nothing to with winning, it’s just the icing on the cake,” she says.
Whether she stays with it or not, wrestling was her rock through the tough times and she hopes it can be for someone else.
“If you don’t have something to keep you grounded, you can get so lost, so wrestling was the thing that kept me grounded.”
High School Basketball
Wise Wood junior girls author cage comeback
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
Feb 6 '08 These Warriors have probably skipped a step or two on the road to success.
Coming off a one-win season last year, no one expected the Henry Wise Wood junior girls’ basketball team to be contending for top spot so soon.
The Warriors have rocketed to the top of the Dolan Division’s South Conference, and were a perfect 5-0 heading into a Tuesday night clash with the Trailblazers (2-1) at Bishop O’Byrne.
The team’s head coach, Katie Birss, used to be a star shooting guard at Wise Wood — and has her team running the best offence in Division 1 junior girls’ basketball. Birss, just 21, spent two years as a Warriors assistant coach before taking over this season.
“Right off the bat, they seemed to play like they had been together forever,” says Birss.
Junior girls’ basketball at Wise Wood has undergone a resurgence since the 2003-04 season, during which the Warriors failed to win a single game. The Warriors were demoted to Division 2, before climbing back up in 2006-07.
Birss says this year’s quick start has been authored by a tightly knit group that doesn’t fold under pressure.
“We don’t have a star on the team. We just have a solid group of girls,” says Birss.
Andrew Rasmussen has been junior girls’ basketball coach at Dr. E.P. Scarlett for three years. As a coach of Wise Wood’s longtime rival, he’s seen them at their highest and lowest.
“I think they are going to be the ones to beat in the South this year,” says Rasmussen.
As an educator, Rasmussen says he’s happy for Wise Wood’s success — but as a coach, he wishes they’d find someone else to beat up on.
“You're kind of glad because they have been down for quite a while,” says Rasmussen.
It can’t be confirmed because the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association doesn’t keep records that far back — but Birss believes the Wise Wood junior girls’ 8784 win over the Lancers on Jan. 29 was the first since the mid-1980s.
Wise Wood shooting guard Taylor Stewart had 29 points in the win over Scarlett, and she thinks some strong play at the post position can take the Warriors all the way to a city championship.
“I have a lot of confidence in us because we have done so well so far and we’ll keep getting better,” says Stewart.
The Warriors have four games left in February to stay on top of the southern pack in the Dolan Division and earn the best seed for playoffs.
The top four teams from each of the north and south will begin city championship playdowns in March.
In the meantime, the Warriors’ next weekend test comes Friday and Saturday at Central Memorial’s tournament.
“This tournament on the weekend will be a really big test for our skills and give us a good opportunity going into playoffs,” says Birss.
High School Wrestling
City’s young grapplers really going to the mat
RICK NORTHROP FOR THE CALGARY HERALD
Jan 30 '08 Like the rest of his crowd, Tony Allen has felt the grappling gap. The high school wrestling season has been on hiatus for more than six weeks now.
And Allen, the wrestling coach at Jack James High School, is ready to test his team’s mettle today — as the Jaguars host the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association’s quad meet No. 3.
“This is a good test of where you’re at. If your cardio is not too good, you’re going to see it by your second, possibly third match,” said Allen.
Since the CSHSAA’s grapplers last hit the mat Dec. 12, there was a two-week Christmas break.
That was followed by an exam break during the latter half of January.
But after today’s competition — which will see Crescent Heights, Bowness and Bishop Grandin visit Jack James — the wrestling season really hits high gear.
Quad meet Nos. 4 and 5 will be held Feb. 6 and Feb. 13, respectively. They lead into city championships on Feb. 27 and 28, and provincial finals in Edmonton on March 7 and 8.
“It gets us back into real serious training mode,” said Allen.
Between the Jaguars, Cowboys, Trojans and Ghosts teams, Allen estimates about 75 athletes will congregate at Jack James today.
Smaller meets suit Allen just fine. An attendance of 75 makes the wait time between matches shorter. The action is non-stop and provides a better test for wrestlers.
“This reminds us that we are not in as good a shape as we often want to be,” said Allen.
Not that the big meets pose a problem for Allen and the Jaguars, you understand. The boys’ team is a two-time defending 3A provincial wrestling champion, and placed fourth in the city championships last year.
Due to their success in the past, the Jaguars have seen the first meet back from the break as a mere tune-up. That’s changed this winter, because the school has a smaller, younger squad.
“We are really happy with the newbies, as we call them. The new crop of ladies is as good as I’ve ever seen,” said Allen.
In 2006 and 2007, Allen coached a couple of 300-pound monsters, including Philip Gizowski and Joey Robichaud, who manhandled the competition. They led the way to the back-to-back provincial titles.
This year, most of the Jaguars are made up of Grade 10s and Grade 11s just learning the ropes.
“It’s very tough when you’re a Grade 10 and you have to go against athletes that are Grade 11 or 12,” said Allen.
The Jaguars now face a busy slate of meets over the next month. In addition to the CSHSAA calendar, they’ll be heading to Edmonton for another meet this weekend.
Two other local high schools will also be hives o |
