Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports B R I N G I N G 23 | Wednesday, May 15, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" T H E H E A T Weekend sweep moves Buzz into division lead The Oakville Buzz won both its games last weekend to move into first place in the South East Division of the Ontario Lacrosse Association's junior B loop. Oakville defeated the Nepean Knights 10-6 Friday and Gloucester Griffins 12-9 Saturday to improve to 3-1 on the season. Both contests were played at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre, the Buzz's firstyear home. Foster Cuomo paced the Buzz against Nepean, striking for a goal and four assists. Greg Campbell (three goals, one assist), Nathan Maracle (two goals, two assists) and Eddie Renaud (one goal, three assists) enjoyed four-point evenings. Mitchell Bolduc, Patrick Dehueck and Mitch Wales also tallied in support of victorious netminder Brent Noseworthy. Saturday, Oakville scored six consecutive goals to start the second period and built a 12-5 lead before the Griffins tightened the contest with the final four markers of the game. Campbell had five points (one goal, four assists) and Maracle added a goal and three helpers. Andrew Kew and Renaud both had two goals and one assist, Liam Corbett and Cuomo each struck for a goal and two assists, Colton Watkinson scored twice and Bolduc and Wales set up three goals each. Ryan Sullivan and Justin Martin provided the Buzz's other tallies as D.J. Eckert recorded the win in net. Oakville will be home for two more games this weekend. The 4-0 Clarington Green Gaels visit the Buzz Friday for an 8 p.m. start, and the Mimico Mountaineers are in town Sunday for a 2 p.m. clash. Senior B Titans fall to 1-4 In OLA senior B play, the Oakville Titans are 1-4 after dropping both their games last weekend. Oakville fell 12-9 to the Norwood James Gang Friday at Glen Abbey Recreation Centre, then was downed 12-5 by the Sarnia Beavers Sunday in Sarnia. Simon Desousa had two goals and two assists versus Norwood, while Mike Gillan also scored twice. Singles went to Kevin Harper, Stu Gordon, Ken Coulson, Cody Simpson and Scott Tremblay. Against Sarnia, Jeff Sehl scored a pair and Anthony Caputo, Mike Rollings and Desousa also tallied. Jay Preece was in goal for Oakville in both games. The Titans are not scheduled to return to action until Friday, May 24, when they visit the St. Catharines Saints. Austin Gerow of the Oakville A's minor midget AAA team delivers a pitch to a Burlington Bulls opponent Saturday at Oakville Park. Gerow tossed four shutout innings and Alex Devos and Tyler Rymal both drove in three runs to pace the A's to a 9-3 victory. Mike Vucina and Michael Scherb each contributed a pair of hits to the Oakville attack. The game was played in front of a large crowd after the Oakville Minor Baseball Association held opening ceremonies to commemorate the start of its 50th-anniversary season.| photo by Michael Ivanin -- Special to the Oakville Beaver Dawson brothers nab elusive NLL title by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff It was a trade that was supposed to put the Rochester Knighthawks over the top. Already the defending National Lacrosse League champions, Rochester's acquisition of Dan and Paul Dawson in exchange for four players showed the team was not about to give up the Champion's Cup any time soon. Things did not go exactly as planned, though. Rochester lost its first three games. "There were a lot of expectations. I'm sure there were people that wanted to get rid of us at that point," Dan Dawson said with a laugh. Dawson can chuckle about it now because after squeaking into the playoffs with a 10-9 victory over Buffalo in the final game of the regular season, the Knighthawks delivered on their pre-season promise by winning the Champions Cup Saturday with an 11-10 win over the Washington Stealth. "There was a lot of belief in us," Dawson said. "It was a great journey, especially to cap it off like we did." It was the first NLL title for both brothers, though they took very different routes to it. At 31, Dan Dawson had come very close to hoisting the Champion's Cup above his head before. Three times he had been to the final -- twice with Arizona and once with Portland. Each time his underdog teams fell short in the championship game. Having played for six teams over his 12-year career, Dawson should have been well-equipped to fit in with a new team. Coming to Rochester was different from his previous stops, though. Three times Dawson had been selected first overall in a league dispersal draft after his team folded, meaning he went to the team with the worst record. Of five previous teams, none had finished better than 5-11 in the season before his arrival. Now he was being added to the defending champions. Dawson saw himself as a complementary piece when he joined the Knighthawks. Through the first month of the season, he had just one goal and nine assists in four games. see Knighthawks on p.24