Joey Payeur
One week from today, NorWOSSA history could be made here.
All four Muskie court teams were victorious in their regular-season finales yesterday against the visiting Dryden Eagles to allow each one to finish with perfect 8-0 records.
All four also earned a bye to their respective league finals, which will take place here next Friday (Nov. 13) beginning at 2 p.m.
That means Fort High now sits one sweep away from what would be, by all accounts, the first NorWOSSA school to have all four court teams win a championship while going undefeated in the same season.
“It’s going to be exciting to have all four Fort teams in the finals,” said Muskie junior boys’ volleyball co-coach Jason Cain, whose team swept the Eagles 3-0 yesterday (25-14, 25-15, and 25-13).
“I’ve had teams 4-4 and 5-3 before, maybe 6-2,” Cain noted.
“But never 8-0.”
Muskie senior girls’ basketball co-coach Dan Bird, whose team rolled to a 39-20 win yesterday for its 28th-consecutive NorWOSSA victory, said it’s no big secret who gets the credit for the two-time defending champs posting their third-straight unblemished regular-season record.
“This goes to the players,” he stressed.
“It’s the contributions the players make in practice, their commitment to defence first,” said Bird.
“That’s the way we’ve approached it the past three years.”
Fort High rode a balanced offensive attack to yesterday’s win over Dryden.
Claire Hyatt led the way with eight points while Amber Williams and Ashley Croswell had seven each.
Sydney Cowley-White added six.
“The seniors last year carried us well and we learned a lot from them,” noted Croswell, one of five senior veterans on this year’s squad.
“We wanted to prove to ourselves that we were just as good as the seniors last year and keep this run going.”
Meanwhile, the Muskie junior girls’ basketball team is peaking at just the right time—setting a season-high for points in a 70-40 rout over the Eagles yesterday.
Coach Gord McCabe’s squad actually trailed 13-11 after one quarter, but unleashed a furious offensive assault to outscore the Eagles 26-6 in the second.
Abby Sanders notched a game-high 14 points while Carmen Godin and Jyllian Westover each netted 12.
And the Muskie senior boys’ volleyball team held up its end of the bargain with a 3-0 sweep of the Eagles (25-14, 25-16, and 25-16).
Dryden will face the Kenora Broncos in both teams’ final regular-season matches on Tuesday.
Then they’ll square off again in all four semi-finals at the NorWOSSA playoffs here next Friday.
