With a Christmas break and an exam break, the winter high school sports season at times feels like a marathon.
For coaches like Derek Rowntree, they’re very thankful Simcoe Composite School and Holy Trinity put on basketball tournaments the weekend before things heat back up for the stretch drive.
“It’s a huge opportunity for us because it is a weird season with all the breaks,” Rowntree, the Waterford Wolves junior boys basketball coach said. “It’s hard to get in any practice time because of exams, so this tournament is perfect for us and the other teams. Everything’s done now, so we can concentrate on our final run in the regular season, and then on to the playoffs and hopefully CWOSSA.”
In their first game of the Sabres Shootout at SCS, the Wolves easily got by the Delhi Raiders 46-17, en route to the consolation championship.
“This tournament is about getting them back into the groove,” Rowntree said. “A lot of our guys only play high school ball, and there’s been so much improvement since the start of the year. This is a great chance to give those guys the extra games. You need that to keep developing.”
Rowntree’s Wolves are in the hunt near the Norfolk Secondary School Athletic Association loop with the Simcoe Sabres and Holy Trinity Titans.
“It’s close this year which is great for the league.” Rowntree said. “We knew Simcoe and Trinity would be tough. As long as we can make a run at it, I’ll be happy.
The Simcoe Sabres flexed their muscle over the weekend, making it to the championship game before losing to Brantford’s North Park Collegiate Trojans 56-36.
To get to the final, the Sabres beat Woodstock’s Huron Park 43-22, and Brantford Collegiate Institute 30-26.
Across town at Holy Trinity, the Titans hosted the Knights of Norfolk Basketball Tournament.
“This is all about getting games in,” Titans coach Paul MacCormack said. “It’s a long layoff. We’ve got some good teams here that will help us get better.”
Despite a no show by one of the teams, the tournament forged on with a make shift schedule that had the hosts only playing a pair of games, losing 53-25 to Ingersoll, before beating the Waterford Wolves 54-44.
“It was tough with one less team, so we had to shuffle things around,” MacCormack said. “It would’ve been great to play a third game, but that’s the way it goes. This was a chance for our guys to get ready for the stretch run.”
Brantford Collegiate Institute ended up winning the tournament title thanks to a 48-43 overtime win over Ingersoll.
Knights of Norfolk results - Senior
Final
Brantford CI 48, Ingersoll 43
Waterford 50, Simcoe 32
Ingersoll 53, Simcoe 25
Brantford 65, Waterford 46
Holy Trinity 54, Waterford 44
Brantford 51, Simcoe 31
Ingersoll 53, Holy Trinity 25
Simcoe Sabres Shootout results - Junior
Holy Trinity 34, Delhi 30
North Park 48, Waterford 27
Brantford 50, McKinnon Park 29
Simcoe 43, Huron Park 22
Waterford 46, Delhi 17
McKinnon Park 38, Huron Park 34
Huron Park 44, Delhi 15
North Park 35, Holy Trinity 12
Simcoe 30, Brantford CI 26
Holy Trinity 37, Brantford CI 35
Consolation Final
Waterford 36, McKinnon Park 20
Championship Final
North Park 56, Simcoe 36
