Sports | DrumhellerMail

St. Anthony’s Saints win bronze at home tourney

The St. Anthony’s junior A girls volleyball team earned a bronze medal at its home tournament.
   On Friday, October 21, the Saints hosted Trochu, Delia and the new Wheatland Crossing School in a tournament. They ended up facing Trochu in the bronze medal match, and found themselves down after the first set, but pulled together to win the match.
   “We got off to a slow start in the bronze medal game, losing the first set, and I have to say that I was really concerned about possibly finishing last in our own tournament,’ said coach David Easter. “However, the girls battled as hard as they have at any point this season – many of them playing with injuries – and were able to come from behind in the second set to win it. That really showed the character of our team by fighting back against that adversity, both on the court, and on the bench by cheering on the girls on the floor and being ready to jump in when I called on them for a sub.”
   The team has been improving all season and their success is backed by strong serving.
   “Our serving has definitely been a strong point all year, and the passing continues to improve as we go,” said Easter. “Our big focus for the next while is going to be on court position for both offense and defense, as there are times that we get caught out of position and it really hurts us. Trying to eliminate ball-watching is also a big objective for us. Hitting/spiking continues to be a work in progress, and we are starting to see some good aggressive smashes to win points.”
   This weekend the Saints are in Three Hills for tournament play. After that, they have two regular season games versus Hanna and Morrin. Championship night for the league is on Thursday November 3. If they qualify, zones are on November 11 and 12.

Bantam Titans play at McMahon

   On Saturday, October 22 Drumheller’s Bantam football team, the Titans went head to head with Strathmore in Calgary at McMahon Stadium.
   The Titans held on until the very end when Strathmore got their final touchdown to solidify their win. With only one minute left on the clock, Strathmore’s touchdown brought the final score to 12-22.
   Heather Jones, mother of quarterback Ethan Jones, said that the Titan’s touchdowns were made by Connor Enns and Braden Mazereeuw. Mazereeuw was able to push through from the 1-yard line to get a touchdown. With Rylan Trodd playing strong with some great tackles, the Bantams put up a good fight.
   Justin Sowerby, a grade 9 student who is in his fourth year with the Titans, said, “We were slow in the first half, then we moved up in the second but fell apart in the last bit when they got the touchdown.”
   Saturday’s game made a strong impact on the Titans. The opportunity to gain the experience of playing at a CFL stadium was something the athletes will carry with them into the playoffs.
   Braden Mazereeuw, one of the older athletes on the team, said, “One of the greatest experiences of my life. We were all really hyped for this game. The stadium was a lot bigger so it takes more energy. The field there was more even, softer and a lot nicer to play on.”
   Sowerby said, “Most of us were excited to play there. It was awesome to play at an actual CFL stadium. The field was longer and wider so there was more room to do more sweeps. I learned to stay on the defender and watch for sweeps more. It was a lot more tiring because we had to run a lot more on the bigger field.”
   This was the last regular game before the playoffs. The first playoff game is a home game against Stettler on Saturday, October 29 at 5:00.
   Mazereeuw said, “The game on Saturday should be good. We are pretty evenly matched but we do have a better standing at this point than them.”

DVSS senior Dynos come out fifth in Kodiak Classic

   On October 14 and 15, the DVSS senior girls volleyball team participated in the Kodiak Classic at St. Martin de Porres in Calgary and out of the 12 teams competing came in fifth.
   Head coach Erica Crocker said, “This tournament is the toughest caliber tournament that the Dyno’s face every year, and it certainly is the tournament our team looks forward to the most.”
   Pool play kicked off on Friday where the Dynos met Magrath and the game ended 22-25 for Magrath. The Dynos played Croxford ending with 25-23 for Dynos in the first set and 21-25 for Croxford in the second. The day finished with the last game against West Island College, which ended 25-23 for Dynos and 22-25 for West Island College.
   According to Crocker, “The tournament format was based on points, so even though the teams split sets with each team the Dynos fell short by our winning splits having a fewer point spread. This determined the Dynos to be 4th in their pool.”
   Saturday was an early start and they matched up with Croxford again for their first cross over.
   Crocker said, “The Dynos delivered an amazing performance winning the set with a nail-biting game of 25-20, 23-25, and 15-7.”
The Dynos then matched up again with Magrath to determine their fate to semi-finals.
Crocker explained, “Unfortunately, we hit a loss 15-25, 15-25 which resulted in our girls to face West Central for 5th. The Dynos dominated in the first set, 25-12 and sealed the deal 25-18.”
   The Kodiak Classic All-Star Award was given to the Dynos Middle Player, Mikaela Koustrup.

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