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Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2007 31 Brown Stanford bound World-class gymnast signs letter of intent By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Oakville native and 2008 Olympic hopeful Alyssa Brown has accepted a full gymnastics scholarship from Stanford University. The 18-year-old, who had committed to the well-respected California school last spring, officially signed her letter of intent Wednesday. "It makes it sink in a bit more, but it's still pretty surreal," said Brown, estimating the scholarship is worth approximately $50,000 per year. Impressing Stanford's gymnastics coaches might have been the easy part of landing the scholarship. Brown wrote her SAT test a couple of times and was also asked to write several essays in order to meet Stanford's academics standards. "I was an honour student all four years (at Abbey Park High School), which helped," Brown said. "It was a hard four years in high school, traveling a lot with the national team and missing pretty much every afternoon, but my school was great about it." Brown said she received interest from at least eight major U.S. schools, and she visited the University of Florida, the University of Arizona and Stanford before making her decision. The Cardinal is already one of the top teams in Division 1 gymnastics, but Brown hopes she can make an immediate impact. "I hope to be one of their stronger people down there," she said, "but the team will be the most important." Now, Brown can completely focus on her attempts to represent Canada at the 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing. The top all-around Canadian at the world championships two months ago, Brown is vying for one of two spots on the Olympic squad. LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER OUTNUMBERED: St. Thomas Aquinas slotback Andrew Dziedzic (in white) is swarmed by a trio of Lester B. Pearson Patriots defenders Thursday at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Aquinas won the Halton high school junior boys' Division 2 championship game, 14-0. Raiders blank Pearson to take Jr. Division 2 title By Kevin Nagel SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER HAMILTON -- St. Thomas Aquinas junior football coach Rob Nacevicius wasn't going to let up against a team trying to win a Halton championship for their retiring coach. The Raiders captured their second straight Division 2 Halton crown Thursday, blanking the L.B. Pearson Patriots 14-0 at Ivor Wynne Stadium. "We know coach (Ralph) Trodd (who is retiring next summer) has a well-coached team over there and we had to show them something a little different," said Nacevicius. That included "throwing our wishbone package out there," the coach said, which had the Patriots scrambling. Pearson finally adjusted, but not before the Raiders scored two touchdowns, one in each of the first two quarters to account for all of the scoring. Raiders' middle linebacker Matt Poretti, a team leader and captain, had a glorious couple of minutes that put Pearson away late in the second quarter. After sacking Pearson quarterback Ryan Bourns with 2:41 remaining in the first half, he picked off a Bourns pass with 43 seconds on the clock. On the next play, a 66-yard bomb from Aquinas QB Julien John to Trevor Reid gave the Raiders a 14-0 lead. "I wanted that (a big interception) all year," said Poretti. "When I saw it in the air I knew it was mine and I grabbed it and took it down the field. The (ensuing) touchdown felt good because I thought I was a part of it." Nacevicius said Poretti is the heart and soul of the team. "He leads us in prayer before every game and he keeps our players honest," said the coach. The Patriots did adapt to the Raiders' various offensive schemes, and slowed down Aquinas star running back Steve Gauntlett. He finished with a total of 75 yards rushing after racking up 50 on his first five carries in the opening quarter. Aquinas' other score came on a 14-yard strike from John to Peter Marcinko midway through the first quarter. John kicked both converts as well. "(John) won them the game," said Pearson coach Trodd. "He's got a good arm and mobility -- it took us a while to adjust. The interception was a bad decision on our part, but that's junior football." John's statistics weren't overwhelming, but with two TD passes and 93 yards passing after one half, he was called on to throw the ball just two more times after the break. Pearson running back Roy La Chappelle was held to 57 yards on 15 carries while quarterback Bourns was six-for-15 for 44 yards through the air. Pearson linebacker Jim Lafitte, another Pearson captain, summed up the game. "It's disappointing that we made some crucial mistakes early in the game," he said. "We played well, but they were better than us. 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