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2 5 | Friday June 2 , 2 0 1 7 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | w w w .insidehalton.com Oakville Trafalgar's Callum Tam (right) is pulled down by Abbey Park's Dan Pritchard in last Friday's Halton senior boys' rugby championship game. OT won 74-15 to claim its fifth straight Halton title and its 45th in 47 years. Both teams advanced to OFSAA, OT to the AAA tournament and Abbey Park to the A/AA tournament. | photo by Graham Paine - Oakville Beaver OT hopes to end 33-year OFSAA gold drought By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff Callum Tam know s what it's like to face the Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils. A n d it's not an enjoyable experience. "They're so fast that if you don't under stand the game, you 're in trouble," Tam said. It m eant a w hole lot o f hurt for O T 's opponents in league play, where the Red Devils' average margin o f victory was 54 points. That included a 7 4 -1 5 victory over the Abbey Park Eagles in Friday's Halton senior boys' final -- O T 's 45 th league title in 4 7 years. That also served as the final tune-up for O T before the Ontario Fed eration o f School Athletic Associations A A A tournament, w hich began Thursday in Ottawa. Fortunately for Tam, he's no longer try ing to stop the Red Devils. H e's trying to help the team win its first O FSA A gold medal since 1984. After sitting out last year's high school season, he transferred from H oly Trinity to Oakville Trafalgar for his final year o f high school. "It's been a fun team to play for," he said. "All the guys are really close and it's a great environment. N ob od y is looking to be the star, they just want the team to w in ." The Red Devils' desire to win has never been stronger, especially after com ing ag onizingly close last year w hen they lost in the provincial final. "That really lit a fire under u s," said O T captain Josh Engelbrecht. "It's not fun to go all that w ay and com e second. W e want to sh ow everyone w e're here to win gold ." A nd O T will definitely be a strong con tender. They enter the tournament as the N o. 3 seed. Saltfleet, w h o edged the Red Devils 7-5 in an early season tournament, is the top seed while last year's cham pi ons, Uxbridge, are N o. 2. W h ile O T has yet to see Uxbridge this season, the de fending champs tied Saltfleet 1 0 -1 0 , sug gesting there is little separating the top three. W ith about three-quarters o f the Red Devils' roster from last season returning, it is a far more experienced team going to O FSA A this year. Eagles' OFSAA A/AA trip `will be great experience' Despite their loss in the Halton final, the Abbey Park Eagles advanced to OFSAA, with the A /A A tour nament in Ottawa beginning yesterday (Thursday) A s the only A A school playing rugby in Halton, the Eagles were guaranteed a spot at OFSAA. "It's not the way we wanted to qualify," said Ea gles coach Tyler Leggatt. "You always like to win som ething to qualify, but this will be great experi ence for our team. It's always a huge challenge to win at the senior level." The Eagles had a strong season. Despite being the smallest school in the league, Abbey Park went 4 -2 . It was edged 3 5 -3 3 by Hayden in its opening game but w ent 4 -1 after that with its only loss in that stretch com ing against Oakville Trafalgar. Abbey Park then doubled Christ the King 2 4 -1 2 in the quarter-finals and then topped Jean Vanier 4 6 -2 8 in the semis to advance to the final, where they faced the daunting task o f beating the prov ince's third-ranked team. O T w on 7 4 -1 5 . Leggatt said the presence o f a dom inant team like O T is not negative for the rest o f the teams in Halton. "Honestly, it's a credit to their program and that motivates u s," said Leggatt, w hose Eagles beat O T in the 2 0 1 2 final. "I'm grateful to have them in the league because it raises the bar and the standard of rugby played in H alton." O F S A A "W e have a lot o f guys back, so they understand the pressure o f a tournament like O F S A A ," said O T coach David Schaffler. "Each game is pretty intense." O T also brings plenty o f high-level ex perience, with Tam and Engelbrecht both being m em bers o f the Canadian under-18 team while a pair o f Grade 10s w ho earned starting roles with O T, Declan W illiam son and Evan Hayes, both have provincial-team experience. That could very well be the difference, especially with O T 's two main rivals play ing such different styles. W h ile Uxbridge plays a fast, u p-tem po style similar to OT, Saltfleet is a bigger, physical team. A nd if the tournament plays out according to plan, the Red Devils will have to beat both to claim the gold. A n d with so little separating the top three, it will all com e dow n to h ow the teams perform over the next three days. "It's a shame really, you throw out all your good w ork from the season," Schaffler said. "A n y team can have a good tour nam ent or a bad tournament. Last year, w e had a good tournam ent." A n d with another good tournament, O T hopes to upgrade its silver to gold. ONTARIO FEDERATION OF SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATIONS YOUTH SOCCERSgip OUTDOOR HOUSE LEAGUES AT APPLEBY COLLEGE b ST. THOM AS AQUINAS 2003-2013 LEAGUES: $207.96 2014/15 SOCCER TOT PROGRAM: $97.35 U JOHN W I L L M O T T A R C H IT E C T , IN C . FOR BO YS & G IRLS BORN 2003-2015 LEAGUES AVAILABLE TUES-SAT 0 12 weeks of games, starts May 30 0 Soccer Tots program for players born w w w .jw architect.com 2014/2015 includes parents & kids in fun 30min sessions 0 Teammate requests accommodated 0 Paid, certified coaches HOUSES 0 Team uniform included 0 Each player receives a BSC ball 0 Team photograph included & B U R L O A K S P O R T S C E N T R E .C A 952 Century Drive, Burlington, ON L7L SP2 End of Season Awards 905-631-0000 ext. 200 or kristin@burloaksportscentre.ca