Late game goal keeps Royals’ ahead in District 4 standings

May 15, 2025 · 0 Comments

Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

A goal on the last play of the game tied it up for the Centre Dufferin District High School (CDDHS) Royals girls’ varsity rugby team when they were up against the John J. Ross Royals on the pitch at CDDHS on Tuesday, May 6. Both schools have Royals as their sports team name.

The two teams came to the game as undefeated squads in a battle to claim first place in the District 4/10 standings. They had identical 4-0 records before Tuesday’s match-up.

With both teams hoping to stay undefeated, they brought their best game to the field in a very aggressive and hard-hitting game that saw the two teams put out a stellar effort on the field.

Near the end of the game, the Centre Dufferin team was trailing by five points.

They managed to get near the goal line but were held off by a strong Ross defence.

They broke through and scored on the last play of the game to tie it up with a 12-12 finish.

“We have an amazing group of girls this year,” said Centre Dufferin player Ava Dresar, after the game. “The grade nine and tens are putting their own to it with the seniors guiding us through it. We know that Ross is a strong team, they always have been, but we’re strong and we wanted to show that today. (We) wanted to prepare ourselves for this game and our coach prepared us very well. We knew we wanted a good outcome today.”

The girls played like they really wanted to come out on top in this game.

“This team hasn’t been tested like we tested them today,” said Centre Dufferin’s Alyssa Gee. “They’ve played a lot of weaker teams and they clearly weren’t ready to play us. We brought up our intensity, and brought all of girls up to their level and made sure we were ready for them. I think all of our girls played amazing today. This is the best game we ever played. This team definitely tested us, and we brought it to them. This was one of the most intense games I’ve ever played.”

With both teams remaining undefeated, they now share the first-place position in the District 4/10 standings.

On Thursday, May 8, the Royals won 34-5 over Erin District High School to improve their season record to 5-0-1.

Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute is in third place in the District 4/10 standings followed by Orangeville District Secondary School and Centre Wellington District High School.