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S Sports By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2011 25 Slow-starting Devils win Jr. volleyball title Even after losing three of four games to start the junior boys' volleyball season, the defending Halton champion Oakville Trafalgar Devils didn't stop believing. In fact, that slow start may have turned out to be a wake-up call. OT went on to win its next seven games of the regular season, then followed that up with three straight wins in the Halton playoffs. That 10-game run concluded Monday with a 25-15, 25-20 victory over the Loyola Hawks in the Halton Tier 1 final at Sheridan College. "We just weren't ready out of the shoot," Red Devils coach Jay Anderson recalled of the start to the campaign. "Last year was the same way, and through practices and systems we could see them start to get stronger and stronger over the course of the season. It was the same thing this year." Devils power Jonny Houston, one of the team's leaders this year along with Braden Taylor, agreed. "We underachieved a little bit (during the regular season)," the Grade 10 student added. "We picked it up a lot at the end of the season." The Devils controlled Monday's opening set from wire to wire, building a 13-6 advantage and not allowing the Hawks within five points the rest of the way. It appeared similar results were in store in the second set, but the Hawks rallied from a 14-8 deficit to take an 18-16 lead. Following an OT time out, Houston delivered two consecutive kills to tie the game 18-18. Then, with the game tied at 20, Houston served up three more winning points, and Kyle Tyron's float serve a few points later won the game for the Devils. "After that time out, we really got into it and concentrated," said Houston. "What I do, and what our coaches tell us to do, is forget what happened in the last play. "Just start over every time, and it works." While the Devils might have been a bit of an underdog story after finishing third during the regular season, the Hawks definitely were. Loyola finished fourth during league play but then shocked the top-seeded Georgetown Rebels in the semis to earn a trip to Sheridan. "That game in Georgetown was our championship game. It's unfortunate," said Hawks coach Claude Malette, "but I take the positive out of it. The guys are disappointed (about Monday) but they knew they didn't deserve to win and that they were outplayed." HERE'S A TIP: Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils power Jonny Houston (in red) tries to tip the ball over the block of Loyola Hawks opponent Scott Docherty Monday at Sheridan College. Houston and the Red Devils won the Halton junior boys' volleyball Tier 1 championship with a 25-15, 25-20 victory over the Hawks. GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER TOP HAWK: Loyola Hawks player Sam Pocrnic dribbles up the court during last week's Halton senior girls' basketball Tier 1 final at Sheridan College. Pocrnic scored 21 points to lead the Hawks to a 42-40 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER Hawks end Notre Dame's basketball reign By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR For the first time in seven years, the best senior girls' basketball team in Halton is not the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Loyola Hawks are this year's top squad in the region, earning that mantra with a 42-40 win over the Irish in last week's Halton Tier 1 final at Sheridan College. Loyola built an early 16-point lead Thursday and then survived a furious second-half rally by the Irish to pull out the victory in the entertaining, back-and-forth affair. The fourth quarter saw six lead changes, with the Hawks pulling ahead for good on Sam Pocrnic's layup with a minute to go. Loyola forced Irish guard Angela Cutaia into a traveling violation with 30 seconds left on the clock. After Pocrnic hit one of two free throws to make the score 42-40, Cutaia missed a tough baseline drive with five seconds to go. "We were well-prepared for this game... we were always positive, even when they were catching up, and we never got down on ourselves," said Pocrnic, a Grade 10 student who led Loyola with 21 points. Loyola's victory not only avenged a loss to the Irish during the regular season, it also snapped Notre Dame's six-year run as Halton champions. That wasn't lost on Hawks coach Alana Juzenas, who actually played point guard for the Irish in the first of those six years. "(No coach) will ever accomplish what (Notre Dame coach Mike Johnston) has between St. Thomas Aquinas and Notre Dame," Juzenas said of her former coach, who won four titles at Aquinas before the six-championship run with the Irish. "It's a great honour... I owe some of my success to him, too." See Hawks, page p g 26