Hoyas reach OFSAA basketball playoffs despite obstacles

WELL DONE:. The Huntsville High School senior boys’ team poses with its OFSAA participation banner.

HUNTSVILLE - A little thing like a dispute over extracurricular activities didn’t stop one high school team from competing at the provincial championships.
The Huntsville High School senior boys’ basketball team was able to make it to the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association playoffs this year, despite the teachers’ strike, said team coach Greg Stewart.
“There was no official (Georgian Bay playoffs) due to the teachers strike,” he said. “However, all the Catholic boards in Ontario were still running teams, some various school boards were not following the strike guidelines, and certain coaches in secondary schools around the province kept their teams going, so there was a need to have some format to decide who would go to OFSAA.”
He said it was decided by basketball officials to hold open OFSAA qualifying tournaments and the one for HHS was in Midland late last month.
“Three Catholic schools wished to enter as well as Huntsville High School. I had found teachers that were willing to travel with our Hoya team, but fortunately the strike ended just before the qualifying tournament. We were the only public school team in the GBSSA area that had continued to practice because I am a community coach and not a teacher. We played in some tournaments as an Ontario Basketball Association team, as a way to try and salvage some games during the strike, but we only managed to play approximately half the games that we would usually play in a season. But it kept the boys going and they had a strong desire to play.”
Despite all this, the seniors did manage to have a modified, and successful, basketball season, compiling a record of 12-7 while playing is some very tough tournaments.
Stewart said the low number of games his team was able to play presented a bit of a challenge as the team moved forward, but the Hoyas entered the OFSAA qualifier in Midland optimistic that they could secure a place in Windsor at the AAA tournament.
Their semifinal had them face St. Peter’s of Barrie and despite a sluggish first half and being down one at the break, the Hoyas locked down on defense and held their opponent to only eight points in the entire second half to secure the win 54-34.
With two teams from this conference able to attend OFSAA, Huntsville’s appearance in the final would secure them a position in Windsor for the March 2 to 3 tournament.
In the final they met a tough host team from St. Theresa’s of Midland. The host squad opened the game by hitting their first five three-pointers in a row. The Hoyas never quit and finally pulled to within one basket late in the fourth quarter. Needing to foul to regain possession, the Hoyas ended up losing a very intense game by seven points.
The Hoyas opened their OFSAA in Windsor experience against Holy Cross from Kingston. Despite their hard work, Huntsville faced some excellent execution and interior play from Holy Cross who advanced with a 51-27 win over the Hoyas. Aaron Chapman and Spencer Hazelwood led the team in scoring.
With that loss, the Hoyas then had to play the second-ranked AAA team in Ontario, Jean Vanier of Toronto. From early on, the verdict of the game was never in doubt, considering the strength, height, depth and athleticism of the Jean Vanier squad. However, the Huntsville players never quit and rebounded aggressively and beyond their height for every minute of the game in a 77-36 loss.
Chapman and Jason Connolly led the team with 10 points each.

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