Centre Dufferin District High School Royals juniors win ‘AA’ CWOSSA championship

Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

The Centre Dufferin District High School Royals junior basketball team won the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association (CWOSSA) championship during competition in Simcoe, Ontario on February 22 – 23.

The Royals earned the right to represent District 4 with an impressive undefeated season that saw them win the District championship on February 19.

“I knew we had a chance,” said coach Shane Trainor, “but there are a lot schools with great basketball programs that play in very competitive leagues in Guelph, Kitchener, and Brantford. We're starting to make a name for ourselves up here – but many people still aren't sure where Shelburne even is.”

On the Friday of CWOSSA competition, the Royals had a couple of easy victories over Grey Highlands from Flesherton (59-30) and Pauline Johnson from Brantford (64-31).

With an early 9:00 a.m. game on Saturday morning the Centre Dufferin Junior and Senior teams were very thankful for a sponsorship from Grand Valley Wind Farms that allowed them to stay down in Simcoe overnight in a hotel. “That made all the difference,” said assistant Coach Chris Sales, “We were not looking forward to leaving at 6:00 a.m. and driving for over two hours before the semi-final. It was very generous of them to help us out with costs. We could not have done it without their support” The semi-final match-up was against Our Lady of Lourdes from Guelph - the defending CWOSSA ‘AA' champions. After a slow start, the Royals rebounded and were trailing 47-44 after the third quarter. The Royals faced St. David's from Kitchener in the final. The Royals jumped out to an early 20-6 lead after the first quarter. St. David's fought back in the second and took the lead in the the third, but the Royals had a strong finish to win the game 72-58 and claim the championship.

“I couldn't be more proud of our guys,” said coach Trainor, “They would not be denied the win. They fought through adversity, stuck with the game plan, trusted each other, and ultimately that was the difference.”

When asked what were the keys to victory the coaches both agreed that it was aggressive defence – especially by Aaron Cunningham who was tasked with shutting down the other team's best player. “Aaron did an amazing job,” said Trainor “The other team seemed baffled when they couldn't pass to their main guy because Aaron was all over him.”

The second key was balanced scoring. “When we've got Tailon, Abel and Nathan firing on all cylinders we are hard to defend.” added Trainor.

In the final two games Tailon Crawford had 54 points, Abel Sales had 33 points and Nathan Isaac had 26 points, to account for 80 per cent of the team scoring.

“The other teams seemed to have one guy who would score half the team's points…but we are much deeper than that. I could have any one of four or five guys lead the team in scoring – you just can't shut them all down.” said a satisfied coach.

“It's my first CWOSSA championship, after 30 years of coaching,” said coach Sales “It was incredibly exciting, for me and for the boys. They will remember this for the rest of their lives.”

The Junior Royals finish the season with 24 wins and only 2 losses in league, tournament, exhibition and CWOSSA games.

It was one of the most successful sports seasons in CDDHS history.