Sports | DrumhellerMail

Dynos compete at Zones

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The DVSS Senior Girls Dynos ended their season at Zones.
The Dynos, who just won their league championship, competed at the zone tournament at Strathcona Tweedsmuir School in Okotoks over the weekend. They went in with great expectations and were playing great volleyball.
The team went in ranked first in the east and played well in the round-robin topping Didsbury, Holy Cross from Strathmore, and Notre Dame Collegiate from Calgary, before falling to St. Joseph’s Collegiate out of Brooks in the third set. This put them second in the pool.
When they crossed over they faced Three Hills, a team they just beat in league, but fell.
“We definitely had a short bench because I had a number of girls that were isolating, which was really tough,” explains coach Erica Crocker.
Despite this, she said it was a phenomenal year of volleyball.
“Overall our season was very strong, one of the strongest we have ever had, and we are seeing six wonderful young women graduate,” she said.
It was a rarity for a team to have a complete line-up graduating, and while they will lose some of that experience, the younger players also had the opportunity to get some great experience.
“It will be an interesting season next year for sure. We will have a lot of development but we have a good group coming up, I’m looking forward to it,” said Crocker. I have a good core group for sure on my roster and some good rookies coming up.
While the school season has wrapped up, club volleyball is not far off on the horizon, and there has been renewed interest in the program, which in turn develops players.
“The local club here, Drumheller Smash, is starting up in the next couple of weeks and we have all age groups from 12-18,” said Crocker.
“I am so proud. It has been exceptional as a coach to be able to watch them grow and have the success they have had, and love the beautiful game of volleyball, you can’t ask for much more than that.”

Bantam Titans crowned league champs

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The Bantam Titans are the Central Alberta Bantam 9-man B Champions and are on their way to the provincial finals.
After a slow start to the season, the Bantam Titans appear to be peaking at the right time and were in Lacombe to play in the league championship on Saturday, November 6. By halftime, they were up 32-0 and never looked back, winning 67-28.
“We had a good game plan coming in, and it kind of all came together, and we got off quickly and never looked back,” said coach Brad Iverson.
He is proud of how the team played.
“From where we were at the beginning of the year… in August, we were getting seven or eight kids out to practice, and I was really unsure if we were going to be able to field a team. In our first game, we only had 13 players,” he said. “That’s where we started, and it has just been building from there.”
The Titans will be hosting the Provincial Tier 2 Finals this coming Saturday, November 13, at noon and will either be against the Edmonton Seahawks or the Stony Plain Bombers.
He says the team is in good shape, with few injuries.
“We‘re rolling at the top of our game right now,” he said. “We have come a long way over the last few weeks. They have limited turnovers and penalties, we cleaned that up,” he said. “Practice will be to continue working on our defensive game because we still are giving up some points, and just be ready to go.”

Titans top Canmore in league semifinal

The Senior Titans dominated the Canmore Wolverines in the semi-final of the Big Sky Conference playoffs, as Drumheller marches through the postseason.
The Titans hosted the Wolverines on October 29, under Friday night lights. The Dragons were up 15-0 by the half and ran away with it winning 36-0.
“Our defence has been on fire, we’ve had three shutouts in a row. We love that on the d-side,” said coach Ken Fournier.
While it was a blowout on the scoreboard, watching the game, Canmore was putting up a valiant effort.
“Their (Canmore) offence is a work in progress, they have a new offensive coordinator, and they are getting better,” said Fournier. “It seems like they are focused on improving no matter the outcome, and they are.”
“Somebody might look at the score and say it was a blowout, but these aren’t easy games by any means. We have to play from the first whistle to the very last whistle.”
He says this game allowed the Titans to prepare for the postseason which includes a trip to provincials in the near future. Currently, the Titans are sporting a 7-3 record and are ranked second among Tier IV teams.
The team is playing well, but Fournier hopes they can get a little healthier as they move towards provincials.
“We are banged up, and the guys who have been filling in various spots and rotating through positions, have been doing well answering the call. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, we can get healthy to help prepare for provincials, obviously, that is in our sights. Hopefully, we can keep refining stuff,” said Fournier.
He adds they have to be on the top of their game.
“We know those teams are ready, they love to prepare for provincials,” he said. “They are not afraid to come up here and lay in our barn, and they are more than happy to host us.”

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