The Muskie court teams made history last Friday in Dryden as all four won NorWOSSA gold in their respective finals–with both the senior boys’ basketball team and girls’ volleyball teams advancing to NWOSSAA.
After watching the three other teams take gold, the pressure was on the senior girls’ team to wrap up the day undefeated.
And that’s exactly what they did, sweeping the host Eagles 3-0 in the best-of-five final by scores of 25-12, 25-13, and 25-19.
“It was a really good day,” enthused head coach Adrian Chapman. “They were all excited. Our team was stoked.”
The game-winner came when the ball bounced off Sarah Noonan’s foot and was tipped over the net by Ashley McFarland.
Chapman noted the girls all played a strong game but once again Siobhan Devlin was the star.
“She has never played better–she was super woman. The scorekeepers were begging for me to take her out of the game,” he laughed.
Chapman said they showed up and did what they had to do to get the victory. “We kept getting better and better during the year and they [Dryden] just couldn’t stop us.”
But he admitted the true test will come this weekend in Thunder Bay when the Muskies are expecting to go up against Hillcrest in the best-of-three NWOSSAA final with a berth to the all-Ontarios on the line.
“They are a strong team and have great defence,” Chapman said. “I am a little worried but if my team plays like they did in Dryden, we have a very good chance.”
He added the seniors went undefeated in NorWOSSA this season and that it feels good to be able to take possibly the strongest team Fort High has seen in years to NWOSSAA.
Meanwhile, the senior hoopsters had to shrug off a rough first half to beat the Kenora Broncos 37-25–also preserving their perfect record in NorWOSSA play and earning a berth at NWOSSAA this weekend.
The black-and-gold trailed 10-7 after the first quarter but battled back to tie the low-scoring affair at 14-14 by halftime. Then the black-and-gold pulled away in the second half–sparked by the defensive play of Vern Pham.
“He was the spark-plug of the team,” enthused head coach Paul Noonan. “It was his defence and turnovers that got [us] back in the game.”
Noonan remarked the guys wanted to be all over the Broncos and it frustrated them that they weren’t. He also added they had more patience in the second half.
“Once we had a few more baskets on them, Kenora had to change their strategy and come at us instead of stalling,” he noted.
“All in all, we got the results we wanted,” reasoned Noonan.
John Sivonen led the way with 18 points, followed by Gary Wager (nine), and Evan Woodland and Pham (four each).
The boys also are expecting to play Hillcrest in the best-of-three NWOSSAA final starting Friday night.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
