HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Louis-Riel leads OFSAA medal parade, gold in boys’ AA volleyball, bronze in girls’ AA basketball

By Martin Cleary

The second 2024-25 OFSAA Championship weekend produced more medals than the opening session for Ottawa high school student-athletes.

On the heels of a pair of individual medals at the cross-country finals and an antique bronze medal in girls’ field hockey, National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association student-athletes brought home one gold and three bronze medals from the three boys’ volleyball and three girls’ basketball championships.

St. Joseph made a desperate, fourth-quarter surge to try to win the OFSAA Football Bowl Series Central Bowl, but the Jaguars came up short in their bid for the ultimate trophy and banner.

At the start of November, Louis-Riel’s Daniel Cova struck gold in the boys’ senior class during the OFSAA cross-country championships at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility, while Alexandra Harris of John McCrae earned bronze in the girls’ novice race. Merivale was fourth at the OFSAA field hockey championships and settled for the antique bronze medal.

Read More: Daniel Cova captures first OFSAA cross-country crown in final high school XC race, at home

That level of high-performance play by Ottawa high school student-athletes was more than evident over the past five days at the most recent seven OFSAA championships, which produced four medals.

Once again, Louis-Riel had representation on the top step of the medal podium as the Rebelles won seven consecutive matches over three days to capture the OFSAA boys’ AA volleyball title in St. Catharines.

OFSAA bronze medals were won by No. 1-seeded Franco-Cité in boys’ AAA volleyball, defending champion Osgoode in girls’ A basketball and top-seeded Louis-Riel in girls’ AA basketball.

St. Joseph scored two early touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t overcome the powerful running game of the St. Roch Ravens from Brampton and dropped the Central Bowl football game 28-13.

After winning its first three OFSAA boys’ volleyball titles (2016-18) in the A division for schools with a population under 500, the Rebelles recorded their first provincial high school AA championship with a 24-26, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20 decision over top-seeded St. Mary’s of Owen Sound. Riel was the second seed at provincials.

A berth in the gold-medal final came after a lengthy and tight semifinal victory over E.S.C. Horizon – 22-25, 27-25, 25-14, 23-25, 15-12.

Riel was in a positive playoff mindset after going 4-0 in its pool C round-robin with wins over Essex 25-7, 25-14, Bishop Smith 25-17, 25-14, Nottawasaga Pines 25-12, 25-13 and Port Perry 25-20, 24-26, 20-18.

Samuel-Genest played well in pool B, winning three of its four matches before losing its championship quarterfinal to St. Mary’s 25-12, 25-18, 25-21. In the round-robin, Genest turned back Francis Liberman 28-26, 25-19, E.L. Crossley 27-25, 21-25, 15-10, and Hammarskjold 21-25, 25-17, 15-10. Its preliminary-round loss was to Sir Oliver Mowat 25-21, 25-20.

Top-seeded Franco-Cité earned the NCSSAA’s other boys’ volleyball medal with a bronze in the AAA division. Cité defeated Bishop P.F. Reding 25-19, 25-21, 25-20 in the bronze-medal game.

Looking to reach the final and win its first AAA title after earning AA championships in 2014 and 2016, Cité lost its semifinal to host Kingston 28-26, 25-23, 13-25, 26-24.

In round-robin action, Cité defeated Chippewa 25-12, 25-16, Hodan Nalayeh 22-25, 25-20, 15-11, and A.B. Lucas 25-12, 25-12, but lost to Eden 25-13, 21-25, 15-13. Cité held off Earl Haig 25-21, 25-21, 25-20 in its quarterfinal.

West Carleton competed as the 17th-seeded team and made a surprising impact by winning all four pool matches, defeating Neil McNeil 25-23, 25-23, St. Michael’s 25-22, 25-19, Oakville Trafalgar 25-17, 29-27 and Central Peel 27-25 26-24. But in the championship quarterfinals, West Carleton fell 25-16, 25-14, 25-18 to Kingston.

Notre Dame dropped all four preliminary games in its OFSAA boys’ A volleyball championship, falling 25-16, 25-19 to Chatham Christian, 25-22, 25-18 to Rockway Mennonite, 25-23, 25-14 to Renaissance and 22-25, 25-15, 15-8 to Valour.

In OFSAA girls’ basketball, Louis-Riel won four of its five games, including the bronze-medal match 52-43 over King’s Christian Collegiate. Riel dropped its semifinal, trailing throughout to Hammarskjold and losing 63-50.

The road to the playoffs saw Riel defeat King’s Christian 56-43 in its opener, Theriault 59-15 and Thousand Islands 46-40.

A year after winning its first OFSAA girls’ A basketball championship, Osgoode Township returned to the provincial tournament and secured the bronze medal, after feeling it was denied an opportunity to repeat as champions.

Osgoode led after each quarter of the low-scoring bronze-medal game as it defeated Hamilton District 36-17. Keira Lusk led Osgoode scorers with 11 points.

In four games, Osgoode cracked the opposition’s zone defence and played stingy defence of their own. In its first three games, Osgoode defeated Monsignor J. Pereyma 76-25, North Lambton 61-41 and Nicholson 42-30. Katie Semple scored 35 points overall in Osgoode’s first two wins, and Charley Toivonen had 14 points against Nicholson.

Osgoode’s semifinal game was its most competitive and controversial match as it fell 43-42 to Académie Catholique Ange-Gabriel of Brockville. Toivonen counted 11 points for Osgoode.

“I hate to say this, but there were several questionable calls in the last 90 seconds that decided this game and they all went against us,” Osgoode coach Aaron Harvey said in an email interview. “The girls were extremely upset and felt that the game was taken from them.

“In all the games I have coached, I have never seen anything like it. It was heartbreaking for the girls and very confusing to anyone watching. It is really unlike me to complain about officiating in this way, but it was like we were playing against seven, not five out there.”

Despite being disappointed for not having a shot at the gold medal, the Osgoode players were proud of their bronze medal, which is another highlight for a program which has been extremely consistent in the past three seasons.

Overall, Harvey felt Osgoode had an excellent OFSAA tournament.

“We had a nearly four-week wait, after the end of our season due to a lack of city playoffs for the single A OFSAA teams,” he added. “The girls came out in our first game and played very tough defence. They carried that throughout the tournament.

“In four of the five games, teams played zone defence (against Osgoode). This is rare for us as most teams in the NCSSAA play man (man-to-man). They overcame that and played excellent zone offence.”

At the OFSAA girls’ AAA basketball championship in Brampton, South Carleton struggled on offence in its first game, but lost its three games – 46-16 to Pickering, 53-38 to Notre Dame and 51-41 to Westmount.

The three-day OFSAA Football Bowl Series started Monday and St. Joseph was anxious to avenge last year’s loss with a season-ending victory. But the running game of the St. Roch Ravens was too much to handle as their physical offence compiled almost 300 yards rushing.

“We were ready for their run, but we couldn’t stop it as planned. All of their film showed they were 95 per cent run,” St. Joseph head coach Blaine Scatcherd said in a phone interview. “They were physical and agile. We knew our defence was in for a tough day.”

St. Roch quarterback Justin Poyser, who at six feet and 230 pounds looked more like a linebacker or fullback, bulldozed his way to 164 yards on 15 carries and one touchdown.

Darnell Green had touchdown runs of 22 and 11 yards and Steven Gerard Kouassi had the other touchdown as he picked up a Poyser fumble, after a 24-yard run, and took the ball the final 25 yards into the St. Joseph end zone. Ben Kampu-Peters kicked four converts.

St. Roch led 28-0 early in the third quarter before St. Joseph’s stuttering offence started to produce points early in the fourth quarter.

Aided by a 52-yard pass-and-run play with receiver Nathan Currie, the Jaguars drove 95 yards in nine plays to score their first touchdown. Quarterback Ashton St. Germain, who completed 23 of 38 passes for 271 yards, ran eight yards for the six-point major. Liana Langiano added the convert to cut the deficit to 28-7.

Langiano followed with a perfect on-side kick, which was caught by Tanner Hudson-Ward and initiated the Jaguars’ second touchdown. A 48-yard pass-and-run play between St. Germain and receiver Felix Pelletier took the ball to the St. Roch four-yard line and set up a two-yard touchdown run by Griffin Kay three plays later.

A second on-side kick almost materialized, but St. Joseph was unable to add more points in its final three possessions.

The Jaguars also had two touchdowns called back because of offside infractions. Officials twice called receiver Carter Surowiec for offside, after he thought he had scored two touchdowns. The first offside happened just before halftime and the second offside was followed by St. Germain’s touchdown run.

“We missed some opportunities and got behind because of their physical play and running the ball 95 per cent of the time,” Scatcherd added. “We struggled on tackling early and we couldn’t extend our drives for more points.

“In the second half, we got back in the game, but we ran out of time. The group battled until the end.”

St. Germain was impressive in his final high school game and spoke to many university coaches after the final whistle. Many Canadian university football programs are recruiting him and the University of British Columbia and Queen’s University may have the inside edge.

RAVENS WIN SILVER AT FISU WOMEN’S 3×3 BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

The Carleton University Ravens were silver medallists at the FISU women’s 3×3 basketball championship in Xiamen, China.

In the championship final, the Ravens lost their only game 21-15 to Tsinghua University of China.

The four-player team of Jacqueline Urban, Teresa Donato, Kyana-Jade Poulin and Kinly Rice won two preliminary games to qualify for the playoffs, where the Ravens advanced through their quarter-final and semi-final matches.

The Ravens reached the final defeating a pair of Mexican university teams – ITESM Toluca 21-11 in the quarterfinals and ITESM Monterrey 19-17 in the semifinals.

In the round robin, Carleton held off NTNU Chinese Taipei 21-19 and Uganda Christian University 19-13.

Carleton qualified for the FISU championship by winning the Americas regional title last May in Argentina.

Urban, Donato, Poulin and Rice will rejoin their undefeated Ravens teammates (OUA East, first, 9-0) for a road trip to Thunder Bay this weekend to play Lakehead University.

CARLETON’S DORCAS BUISA HAS REMARKABLE SCORING WEEKEND

Dorcas Buisa had a weekend to remember for the Carleton University Ravens women’s basketball team.

She spearheaded her team to a pair of OUA wins – 74-69 over the University of Guelph Gryphons and 81-70 against the McMaster University Marauders – to improve the Ravens East Division-leading record to 9-0.

Buisa scored a single-game, program-record 38 points against the Gryphons and counted 31 points against the Marauders. In addition, she had six steals and five rebounds in the Guelph game, and 10 rebounds and five assists in the McMaster match.

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees remain in second place in the East following a 67-49 decision over McMaster and a 73-60 win over Guelph.

Natsuki Szczokin had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead the Gee-Gees against the Marauders, and Allie McCarthy had a double-double 18 points and 12 rebounds against Guelph.

On the men’s basketball scoreboard, Carleton is on top of the East standings at 9-0, while Ottawa is third at 7-2. Both teams swept their two weekend games.

Augustus Brazdeikis combined for 44 points and nine rebounds as Carleton downed Guelph 61-47 and McMaster 89-79.

Anki Choudhary was the leader for the Gee-Gees with a total of 42 points and six rebounds as Ottawa turned back McMaster 77-70 and Guelph 81-45.

IVANIE BLONDIN BAGS WORLD CUP GOLD, SILVER & BRONZE

Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin won a medal of each colour in her season-opening World Cup speed skating meet of the season in Nagano, Japan. The 34-year-old three-time Olympian earned Canada’s first-ever medal in the mixed relay (bronze), won silver in her signature women’s mass start and gold in the women’s 3,000 metres.

She also placed fifth in the team pursuit and 1,500m, and 10th in the 1,000m on the same day as her 3,000m win.

Skating in the third of eight pairs, Blondin posted the fastest split time for each lap to finish the 3,000m with in 4 minutes, 3.76 seconds, ahead of Norwegian and Dutch athletes who both clocked 4:04.60.

“I knew it was a good race, but I wasn’t expecting the result after I finished, especially knowing who was skating after me,” the Gloucester Concordes product said via Speed Skating Canada. “I knew I was skating well, especially after yesterday’s 1500m, which was confirmation I was heading in the right direction. But I’m still a little bit shocked by the win.

“My mindset is good this year. I am trying new things and having a lot of fun during training, and I think that being more relaxed is paying off on the ice.”

GOLDEN DEBUT FOR FIGURE SKATER KATHERINE MEDLAND SPENCE

Nepean Skating Club’s Katherine Medland Spence made a smashing international debut by winning the women’s singles title at the Warsaw Cup in Poland.

The Warsaw Cup is part of the International Skating Union’s Challenger Series.

Medland Spence scored a convincing victory as she won not only the short program with 60.03 points, but also the free-skating final with a personal-best 121.86 points, which left her with a best-ever overall score of 181.79 points. She finished more than 10 points ahead of runner-up Ekaterina Kurakova of Poland.

Canadian women’s champion Kaiya Ruiter, who formerly trained at the Gloucester Skating Club, was seventh at 165.75 points. Ruiter was second to Medland Spence in the free skate with 115.04 points.

Medland Spence and Ruiter will not compete in this weekend’s Skate Canada Challenge in Winnipeg, which is a qualifying event for the Canadian championships Jan. 14-19 in Laval, PQ. They were awarded byes through the Challenge competition because they had skated in a competition within a week of the national qualifier.

4 OTTAWA WATER POLO PLAYERS HELP CANADA TO MEN’S PAN AM SILVER

Four local players helped Canada to a men’s silver medal at the 2024 Pan American Water Polo Championship in Colombia.

Jackson Taylor of the Ottawa Titans joined Team Canada veterans Bogdan Djerkovic, Aleksa Gardijan and David Lapins for the tournament.

Djerkovic led Canada in scoring with 13 goals over the course of five matches, which included victories over Argentina (5-4 in a shootout after an 11-11 regulation), Panama (26-3), Mexico (30-3) and Colombia (14-9), as well as a defeat to champion Brazil (8-5).

Water Polo Canada made a “strategic decision” not to send a women’s team to the event due to the “timing of the event following the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and budgetary considerations,” the national sports organization said in an earlier announcement.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

· Ottawa’s Julia Chadwick is playing for Geneve LPLO in the Swiss Basketball League and is leading her team with per-game averages of 18.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 31.0 minutes.

· Marial Shayok, who played for the South Sudan men’s basketball team at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has recently joined the Maccabi Playtiak Tel-Aviv team, after leaving the Shandong Heroes in China.

· Carleton University’s Kaseem Ferdinand and Ifenna Onyeka were selected U Sports second-team football All-Canadians at receiver and defensive end respectively. University of Western Mustangs centre Alex Berwick of Clarence Creek, ON., also was named to the second team.