Lucas Punkari
It was a successful day for Muskie athletics here Wednesday as three of the four court teams captured NorWOSSA gold.
The biggest surprise came in the junior girls’ volleyball final as the black-and-gold upset the Eagles 27-29, 25-20, 27-25, and 25-15 to snap Dryden’s seven-year hold on the NorWOSSA crown.
Before capturing their first league title since 2003, the Muskies swept the Kenora Broncos 25-20, 25-7, and 25-9 in the semi-final earlier yesterday.
The most dramatic win came in the final game of the day as the Muskie senior boys’ basketball team held off a valiant Eagles’ squad 43-37 to capture their sixth-straight league title.
After jumping out to an early 10-2 lead, Fort High struggled in the second quarter, allowing the Eagles to go ahead at halftime and eventually take a 28-24 lead going into the fourth quarter.
But that was when the black-and-gold started to wake up, outscoring Dryden 19-9 in the final period to take the lead for good.
Will Anderson led the way with 15 points while Caleb McIntosh chipped in 10.
With their NorWOSSA victory, the senior hoopsters now will host the best-of-three NWOSSAA playoff next Friday and Saturday (Feb. 24-25) against the still-to-be determined Thunder Bay champ.
A trip to the all-Ontarios is on the line.
Meanwhile, the Muskies also captured their fifth junior boys’ title in the last six years after dumping the defending champion Eagles 44-25 yesterday.
The 1-7 Eagles, who stunned Kenora in the semi-final yesterday morning, were within four points of the black-and-gold at halftime before the Muskies began to pull away.
Darren Lundgren led the way with 15 points while Derek Kaemingh added 10.
Rounding the Fort High contingent was the senior girls’ volleyball squad, who made a dramatic run to the final here yesterday despite finishing in last place during the regular season with a 1-7 record.
The Muskies upset second-place Kenora in a five-set thriller (15-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-17, and 15-9) in the semi-final.
But their Cinderella run came to an end in the final as the Eagles captured their 11th-straight NorWOSSA crown in straight sets (17-25, 6-25, and 14-25).
