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26 Sp Sports SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2011 Jr. title extra sweet for f Tigers Blakelock l k l kf finishes h bizarre b season with h win in Halton l final f l By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER TOUGH TO TAME THIS TIGER: T.A. Blakelock Tigers running back Richard Panton (28) pulls away from a couple Christ the King defenders during yesterday's (Tuesday's) Halton junior Tier 2 football final in Hamilton. Panton scored a touchdown to help the Tigers defeat Christ the King 18-14 and earn Blakelock its first Halton junior title since 1994. HAMILTON -- Shortly after the T.A. Blakelock Tigers had won the Halton junior Tier 2 football championship, Khaleel Griffiths grabbed the trophy and jumped into the stands, landing in the laps of several Blakelock fans. The moment -- Griffiths' reenactment of the famous Lambeau Leap that features Green Bay Packers players jumping into the crowd after scoring touchdowns -- was filled with raw emotion. And that made for a more than fitting end to the season, considering the emotional rollercoaster the Tigers had ridden during the campaign. Blakelock won its first Halton junior title in 17 years yesterday (Tuesday), defeating the Christ the King Jaguars 18-14 in cold and windy conditions at McMaster University's Ron Joyce Stadium. The victory came just a few weeks after the Tigers were forced to forfeit all of their regular-season wins, due to an ineligible player being on their team. "We've been working so hard and had ups and downs," said Griffiths, who led the Tigers yesterday with two touchdowns. "We just wanted to work so hard to win the championship." Blakelock had won all but one of its regularseason games, with the Tigers' lone loss coming in a crossover game with a Tier 1 squad, to earn the top seed in the playoffs. But all those wins were wiped out when the Tigers coaches learned they had a senior-aged player on their roster. All of a sudden, Blakelock had to start from scratch. Every team in Tier 2 qualified for the playoffs, but the Tigers would have to play three straight road games against stiff competition to make it to the final. "At first, we were really angry. We weren't really angry at the player, but we were angry at what happened," Griffiths said. "But our coaches spoke to us and told us to continue to work hard to get back to where we are." Tigers head coach Bob Bernier, who helped deliver that bad news to the players a few weeks ago, was impressed with the way his charges reacted "It's a credit to the players that they accepted what had happened and realized they still had an opportunity to win. And that's all players want," he said. "When we came in and told them you're still playing, you can still get (to the final), they were excellent." Blakelock started that playoff journey with a 27-0 win over the Georgetown Rebels. It then pulled out a double-overtime win over the Loyola Hawks in the semifinals. And yesterday, the Tigers surrendered the opening score of the game before responding with a major of their own. Blakelock then broke a 6-6 halftime deadlock with two third-quarter touchdowns and held off a Jaguars' comeback attempt in the fourth. Griffiths had the Tigers' first two touchdowns -- the first on a 13-yard pass from Aidan Chalis, and the second coming on a 65-yard run to open the second half -- and Richard Panton added a three-yard run to give Blakelock an 18-6 lead. The Tigers went for two points after each of their touchdowns but were denied each time. Christ the King pulled within four points with a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final three minutes, but Blakelock recovered the Jaguars' onside kick attempt. Brandon Tyrell clinched the victory with a long third-down run. Earlier in the game, the Tigers snuffed out three promising Christ the King drives by forcing turnovers deep in their own territory. "It was a battle, right down to the end," Bernier said. That, too, was a fitting conclusion to a Tigers' season in which nothing came easy. Aquinas, King's Christian to represent Oakville at basketball provincials The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders and King's Christian Collegiate Cavaliers will both represent Oakville at their respective Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) girls' basketball tournaments this week. Aquinas will compete in the AA tournament in Brockville, while King's will participate in the A competition in St. Catharines. Both tournaments are scheduled to get underway tomorrow (Thursday). Raiders shooting for quarter-finals Aquinas is making its second OFSAA appearance in three years, qualifying for provincials with a 51-30 romp over Brampton Ascension last week at Aquinas. The Raiders focused their defensive efforts on shutting down Ascension's top post player. On the offensive end, Aquinas ran a high-low attack that enabled Kayla Celestini to score 19 points. Junior callup Marisa Parsons added 13 points for the Raiders, and Nicole Lopes added 11. Aquinas coach Mike Giammichele initially hoped the Raiders would be seeded in the middle of the 18-team field at OFSAA, row at 10 a.m. "I would say reaching the quarter-finals on the championship side or winning the consolation championship would be (a successful showing for the Raiders)," Giammichele said. Cavs making fourth straight OFSAA trip conceding that Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference representatives haven't fared well recently at the AA provincials. He didn't get his wish, , however, as the Raiders were seeded 15th and will face fourthranked St. Francis in the first round tomorThe Cavaliers had an even easier road to OFSAA, whipping Brampton Christian 43-9 in their qualifier last week at King's. They'll be making their fourth consecutive trip to OFSAA, and coach Eric Bulthuis See Cavaliers, page 28