The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports 17 | Wednesday, May 29, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" OT senior boys back on top of Halton rugby by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor If there's a downside to winning all the time, it might be not experiencing what it feels like to lose. The Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils got a rare taste of the latter last spring, failing to claim the Halton senior boys' rugby championship for just the second time in 42 years. A painful experience, to be sure, but one that made the Devils better this year in the eyes of returnee Mike Izzard. "Our team last year needed more of a kick start. We felt pretty confident going into last year's game," Izzard said, reflecting on OT's 32-10 loss to the Abbey Park Eagles in the 2012 Halton final. The Red Devils not only kept their egos in check going into this year's final Monday at Burlington's Sherwood Forest Park, they also reacted better when things weren't coming easily. After Connor Baigrie scored in the opening minute to put the Red Devils up 7-0, Abbey Park carried the play much of the first half, even tying the game on a try by Jesse Harton. But rather than turning on each other, the Red Devils weathered the storm, scored shortly before halftime and then added four unanswered tries in the second half to earn a comfortable 32-7 victory. "Last year, we got down on each other on the field," said Izzard, who scored a pair of tries for OT. "This year, we kept our heads cool and kept playing." Alex Fulton, Brendan Dickie and Harrison Lee also scored tries for the Red Devils, whose speed and ability to find open areas of the field were the main differences between the sides. "They relied on the things they're good at," Eagles coach Tyler Leggatt said of the Red Devils. "We start to congregate in certain situations, and they pass the ball. This game is about passing and using space, and when they had the opportunities to do that they got organized quickly and used their skills to pass the ball to space." OT's Fulton and Abbey Park's Connor Challis each kicked a convert to account for the other scoring in the game. With the regional trophy back within their grasp, the Red Devils now shift their focus to the provincial scene. OT is scheduled to host Hamilton champion Cathedral in the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference final today (Wednesday) at 3 p.m., with the winner advancing to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations tournament next week in Ottawa. "We've been talking about OFSAA, and it looks like the top eight to 10 teams will be in a dead even race," said OT coach David Schaffler, who expects a tough challenge in the GHAC final as well. "There's no dominant team (provincially). If you get on a roll and win your first two games, you have a legitimate chance to win a medal. The potential is there. We have a pretty good group of kids." OT won OFSAA bronze two years ago, defeating Abbey Park in the bronze-medal game at Oakville's Crusader Park. The Red Devils' last provincial gold came in 1984, when they successfully defended their 1983 crown. Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils player Mike Izzard protects the ball from Abbey Park defender Jason Edwards during Monday's Halton senior boys' rugby Tier 1 final in Burlington. OT defeated the Eagles 32-10 to avenge a loss to Abbey Park in last year's final.| photo by Eric Riehl -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Junior Red Devils win 10th championship in 12 years Any conversation about Oakville Trafalgar High School's rugby program usually centres around the school's senior squads. After all, the Red Devils senior boys have won Halton titles 41 of the past 43 seasons. And the senior girls are the defending provincial champions, also winning OFSAA bronze two years ago. The success of those two teams makes it easy to overlook OT's junior boys, who won their 10th regional trophy in the past dozen years Monday at Burlington's Sherwood Forest Park. The Red Devils routed Georgetown's Christ the King Jaguars 51-5, a fittingly decisive finish to a Halton season that saw OT outscore its opponents 354-45 over seven games. "We just have a lot of good guys, I guess," OT's Will Izzard laughed when asked why the Red Devils continue to dominate Halton junior rugby year after year. But it's clearly more than that. In theory, there should be more parity at the junior level because high school coaches have had less time to work with the players. OT is obviously doing something right, though the school has had a bit of help in recent years as well. "We're getting more and more kids who have gone through the mini program with the Oakville Crusaders," said Red Devils coach David Schaffler, who also oversees the seniors. "I'd say close to half (our Grade 9 students) in recent years have experienced rugby before." If you attend an elementary school in southeast Oakville and you like to play sports, you might want to bone up on your rugby before you even attend OT. "It's pretty known for rugby," Izzard said. "Everyone tries their hardest to get better at rugby, to keep that going. You see Players on p.20