HIGH ACHIEVERS: Ottawa high school athletes preparing for a dozen OFSAA championships, festivals

By Martin Cleary

It’s coming.

The greatest week of the year for high school athletes is on the horizon with the arrival of OFSAA Championship Week, which starts Monday and runs through Saturday, June 10.

A total of 15 provincial high school championships and festivals will play out across Ontario in tennis, rugby, field lacrosse, baseball, track and field and soccer.

The National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association will play host to the largest prize, the OFSAA track and field championships, from June 8-10 at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.

The Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association also will share in the provincial championship excitement by staging the boys’ A/AA and girls’ A/AA rugby finals.

Here’s a look at what NCSSAA teams and individual athletes have qualified for OFSAA so far. Some sports are in their final stages of qualifying teams and individual athletes to represent the NCSSAA.

TENNIS
Toronto
Monday to Wednesday
Two dozen athletes will represent the NCSSAA

A total of 403 student-athletes have registered for the open and high school divisions and will test their skills in the boys’ singles and doubles, girls’ singles and doubles and mixed doubles.

The matches will be played at the Tennis Canada National Centre at York University, L’Amoreaux Tennis Centre, Mayfair East and the Tam Heather Tennis Club.

The NCSSAA will send a team of 24 players to the OFSAA tennis championships. The OFSAA website didn’t indicate the high school associated with each student-athlete.

OPEN

Boys’ singles – Vlad Pirusca and Filip Popadich;

Girls’ singles – Ariel Liu and Betty Mizikovsky;

Boys’ doubles – Will Adamson and Pavel Ofitserov, Rui Jin and Henry Zhang;

HIGH SCHOOL

Boys’ singles – Emmett Macleod, Sean Fitzgerald;

Girls’ singles – Marcelle Malenfant, Ximena Shwetzer Martin;

Boys’ doubles – Carter Chew and Aidan Fennimore, Gavin Maule and Quan Thai;

Girls’ doubles – Charlotte Fawcett and Cecelia Stroz, Lola Gazale and Ava Li;

Mixed doubles – Emmett Mack and Lauren Perkins, Ally Hemphill and Arturo Sanz Escriva.

RUGBY, GIRLS, A/AA
Belleville
Monday to Wednesday
Cairine Wilson will represent the NCSSAA

Six schools played in the NCSSAA’s top OFSAA division to compete for the right to attend the provincial championship. Cairine Wilson finished fourth overall in the regular-season standings at 2-3 and defeated St. Pius X 33-19 in the AA final to advance to OFSAA.

RUGBY, GIRLS, AAA
Bolton
Monday to Wednesday
Glebe, Nepean will represent the NCSSAA

Glebe and Nepean were the two dominant teams in the OFSAA Division and finished with identical 4-0-1 records. In their opening game of the season, Glebe and Nepean tied 24-24.

But in the NCSSAA AAA championship game, Glebe revved up its high-scoring offensive machine once again for a 57-29 victory over Nepean. In its six games this season, Glebe scored 243 points, while allowing 103 points.

Both Glebe and Nepean will compete at the OFSAA championship.

RUGBY, BOYS, A/AA
Belleville
June 8-10

Fourth-place Ashbury (2-3) and fifth-place Cairine Wilson (1-3) qualified for the NCSSAA A/AA final, which was scheduled to be played Wednesday at Hillcrest High School. The score was unavailable by publication deadline.

RUGBY, BOYS, AAA
Arva
June 8-10
Glebe will represent the NCSSAA

Glebe followed the lead of its girls’ team and also ruled in its OFSAA Division league with a 5-0 record.

The city’s AAA championship game was no different as the Gryphons rolled to a 35-0 victory over Sacred Heart, which tied for second place in the regular season with Nepean at 3-1.

FIELD LACROSSE, A/AA
Peterborough
Monday and Tuesday
St. Mark will represent the NCSSAA

After tying for second place in the city’s OFSAA Division with Merivale at 4-2, St. Mark captured the city A/AA final, blanking A.Y. Jackson 12-0 and qualified for the OFSAA Festival.

St. Mark only dropped two games in its NCSSAA season, losing 10-7 and 13-0 to Sacred Heart.

FIELD LACROSSE, AAA
Peterborough
Monday and Tuesday
Sacred Heart will represent the NCSSAA

Sacred Heart is off to the OFSAA Festival, following an 8-2 decision over Merivale in the NCSSAA AAA championship. In its six regular-season and two playoff games, Sacred Heart scored 75 goals and only surrendered 21.

BASEBALL, EAST REGIONAL
Toronto
Wednesday and Thursday, June 8
St. Joseph will represent the NCSSAA
Final, London, June 14

St. Mark won the NCSSAA regular-season pennant with a 5-1 record, but runner-up St. Joseph won the league championship and a berth in the OFSAA East Regional.

St. Joseph outscored St. Mark 13-11 in the city final. The Jaguars lost to St. Mark 9-2 in the regular season and finished their regular-season schedule at 3-3.

TRACK AND FIELD
Ottawa, Terry Fox Athletic Facility
June 8-10

On Thursday and Friday, the OFSAA East Regional track and field meet will be held and the top five athletes in each boys and girls’ novice, junior and senior track and field events will qualify for the OFSAA championships.

SOCCER, GIRLS, A
London
June 8-10
The NCSSAA will not be represented

SOCCER, GIRLS, AA
Cobourg
June 8-10
Garneau will represent the NCSSAA

The Garneau Gaulois were acclaimed as the national capital’s AA-level OFSAA representative. Though they didn’t need to compete in playoffs, their regular season included victories against many schools with larger populations.

Garneau produced four clean sheets en route to a 5-1 record. Glebe provided the only blemish in a 3-0 contest to close the regular season, though Garneau claimed a 2-0 win over Glebe earlier as well.

SOCCER, GIRLS, AAA
Grimsby
June 8-10
St. Mother Teresa will represent the NCSSAA

The St. Mother Teresa girls’ soccer team certainly knows how to handle playoff pressure.

For the third post-season game in a row, Mother Teresa was extended to overtime and this time earned a 4-3 penalty kicks victory in the NCSSAA OFSAA Division championship game over St. Francis Xavier. The game was tied 1-1 after regular and extra time.

Earlier, Mother Teresa edged Glebe 3-2 in overtime in the quarterfinals and Merivale 2-1 in overtime in the semifinals.

During the regular season, St. Francis Xavier was second in the OFSAA East Division at 4-1-1, while St. Mother Teresa placed third in the West Division at 4-1-1.

Both teams performed well offensively and defensively in the regular season. Xavier scored 12 goals, but only allowed two, while Mother Teresa counted 21 goals and had three goals against.

SOCCER, BOYS, A
London
June 8-10
The NCSSAA will not be represented

SOCCER, BOYS, AA
Bradford
June 8-10
Louis-Riel will represent the NCSSAA

The long wait is almost over for Louis-Riel.

After winning the city OFSAA Division AA soccer championship by a 2-0 score over Gisèle-Lalonde last fall, Riel can now start to get excited about competing at OFSAA.

Riel posted a 5-1 regular-season record (7-1 overall) and its only loss was to Lalonde by a 2-0 count.

John McCrae is the only NCSSAA team to win the OFSAA AA championship, which happened in 2012.

SOCCER, BOYS, AAA
Windsor
June 8-10
John McCrae will represent the NCSSAA

John McCrae will enter its OFSAA championship with an undefeated record, after recording seven wins and two ties this NCSSAA season.

One of its two ties was against Earl of March and those two teams met in the city AAA final. John McCrae held the upper hand, defeating March 1-0 to advance to the provincial AAA high school championship. March was undefeated in the regular season at 3-0-3.