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18 Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2006 New QB leads Aquinas to season-opening win By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER NEW PIVOT: St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders quarterback Ryley Wright drops back to throw a pass during the Raiders' 20-12 victory over the Burlington Central Trojans Thursday at Aquinas. The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders narrowly missed a trip to the Halton high school senior football Division 2 final last year, but they seem to have found the Wright guy to take the next step. Quarterback Ryley Wright made a solid debut Thursday for the Raiders, throwing for two touchdowns in Aquinas' season-opening 20-12 win over the defending Division 2 champion Burlington Central Trojans. Wright, who has played for the Burlington Stampeders and Halton Invictas, came to Aquinas from King's Christian Collegiate. "I'm a football guy and my school didn't have a football program," he said of the reason for the switch. The Raiders are more than happy to have him, especially considering he's only in Grade 11. Wright completed 10 of 16 passes for 156 yards, stats that could have been even better if not for a couple of dropped passes and one 25yard strike that was negated when the receiver came down barely out of bounds. Though Wright wasn't around for Central's 19-16 semifinal win last season, he was certainly aware of the rivalry. "It was my first game for this school but there was a lot of talk before the game about getting some revenge," he said. Early on, it looked like Central wasn't about to let that happen. An Aquinas fumble gave Central the ball in Raiders territory. The Trojans capitalized to take a 6-0 lead and protected it with a big defensive stand. After Wright hooked up with Brian Delahanty for a 48-yard passing play, Central turned Aquinas away twice at the two-yard line. Aquinas would bounce back on its next drive when Wright hit Kyle Enright for a 14-yard TD pass and then rolled out to find Delahanty in the end zone for the two-point convert. "I told the guys (after the Raiders were stopped), `We've got the whole game to play.' We showed we can rise up and things like that aren't going to bother us," said Wright. See Raiders' page 22 Local youth at 3-on-3 basketball worlds They haven't lost a game all year, sion, they won four straight games to but this weekend they will find out if reach the final where they chalked up a they're world beaters. 16-13 victory (baskets in three-onOakville's Dillon Brooks and his three are worth one point each while four teammates are off to Milwaukee the three-point line is a two-point line). for the 2006 Gus Macker Expecting stiffer com"He's a big All World 3-on-3 petition at the NBA 3-on-3 Basketball Championship, rebounder and a Tournament in Toronto, which begins today. The defensive force. they breezed to the gold team of 10-year-olds has He scores a lot of medal with the closest of already chalked up three points when we their five victories being 16-8. tournament victories this feed it into him." The third tournament summer without suffering victory was even more a single loss. Brandon Trpcic, unexpected. Going to the "They're very commitreferring to Dillon Gus Macker 3-on-3 ted. They work very hard Brooks Tournament in Hornell, off the court," said Brandon Trpcic, the team's coach. N.Y., the team again won five straight "You put up a skill and they'll go and without allowing more than eight work at it and work at it. They practice points. To top it off, they were also pretogether and they feed off each other." sented with the tournament's sportsTheir hard work paid dividends at manship award. "The U.S. is known for basketball the NBA 3-on-3 Tournament in London. Playing in the under-12 divi- and developing kids at a young age and putting them through a very good system," Trpcic said. "Nowhere in my wildest dreams did I think we would beat these teams and beat them so handily." Brooks is a key member of the team. Already standing 5-foot-4, he gives the team a distinct height advantage. "He's a big kid. He's a big rebounder and a big defensive force," said Trpcic, who coached Brooks on the Oakville Vytis under-10 team that won a bronze medal at provincials. "He scores a lot of points when we feed it into him." Trpcic said the team's biggest strength is its ball movement. "They're all excellent ball handlers. They move the ball quickly and they move without the ball. They know where they need to be on the court when they don't have the ball." -- Herb Garbutt, Oakville Beaver staff RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER HOOP DREAMS: Dillon Brooks is competing in this weekend's 3-on-3 world basketball championships in Milwaukee.