Sports | DrumhellerMail

Morrin curlers clean sweep zone championships

    Morrin had the Midas touch this past weekend when they hosted the curling zone championships at the Drumheller Curling Arena.
   All three teams representing Morrin School, came away zone champions in their respective divisions.
   “It’s amazing. We have a high school of 45 kids and we’re playing against schools with 500 to 1,000. To win one gold medal is something, but getting all three is amazing. It feels great,” said Don Yavis, principal of Morrin School.
   All three Morrin teams will be heading to provincials in Bonnyville on March 1 and 2.
   The championships began early Friday morning. Twenty four teams, with a total of 96 players and their families descended upon Drumheller for the tournament. The players represented teams from all over the Alberta School Athletics Association south central zone, which includes an area stretching between Canmore to Oyen and Sundre to Brooks.
   The Morrin teams were strong throughout the tournament and easily earned their spots in the finals for their respective divisions.
   The boys were up against the Cochrane High School boys in the finals. The Morrin boys took the lead early in the match and remained dominant throughout.
   The Morrin girls also faced their Cochrane counterparts in the final game. However, it proved to be a much closer contest. The Morrin girls held a small lead for most of the game, but Cochrane managed to tie the game up at five apiece in the second last end.
   The final end was tense, with spectators on the edge of their seats as each rock was thrown. The game came down to the final shot. Morrin had the shot rock, lying in the outer ring. Cochrane had the hammer and all they had to do was draw for the win.
   The Cochrane skip threw the last rock of the game. As the rock sailed down the ice, spectators were hushed. Fortunately for the Morrin girls, the rock had too much weight behind it and it came to a stop inches past the Morrin shot rock. The Morrin girls had stolen the winning point of the game and the gold medal.
   The Morrin mixed team held the reins for the final game against Bow Valley and came away with a decisive win for the gold.
   Yavis credited the success to the Rumsey Junior Curling, where the young curlers play.
   “We’ve got to thank Rumsey Junior Curling, because all of our curlers are a part of that program. Our curlers curl in Rumsey. They’ve got a junior program, so our kids hop on the bus at the end of school on Tuesday and curl in Rumsey,” said Yavis.
   The teams will head to Bonnyville in two weeks to compete for the title of provincial champions.

The Morrin Boys curling team, consisting of skip Bradley Nelson (left), 3rd Matthew McNaughton, lead Garrett Holowath, 2nd Marcus Head, and coach Kent Holowaith are heading to provincials.

Coach Betty Primrose (left), skip Katie Primrose, 3rd Brittney Cawiezel, 2nd Amy Adams, and lead Jessica Wolf celebrate after winning gold at zones.

Lead Jordan Fergusen, 2nd Lowell Nelson, 3rd Caitlin Wolf, skip Evan Hampton, and coach Melanie Nelson won first place at zones this past weekend.

Battle of the border to highlight rural football talent

    A Drumheller Titans coach will be leading a select team of Alberta high school football players to take on British Columbia.
   Ron Laprise says that All Pro Camps is in the midst of introducing an Alberta-B.C. football all star game, or “Border Bowl” to showcase the talents of players from rural areas. He will be coaching the inaugural Alberta team and it may feature some top Drumheller talent.
   Right now, he is assembling a coaching staff and setting up tryouts. Fellow Titan coach Ken Fournier was selected as the team's defensive coordinator. The first tryout for the Alberta team will be in Sherwood Park on February 22, in Airdrie on February 23, and on February 24, in Drumheller. This will coincide with a Media Day.
   “From the top 100 kids from those three tryouts, we will select the top 45 players who are going to be in B.C.,” said Laprise.
The first Alberta-B.C. Border Bowl will be at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna on May 11. All Pro Camps already hosts a of couple Border Bowls in Eastern Canada.
   It will feature the best Grade 10 and 11 players from the rural communities.
   Laprise said the game is not affiliated with Alberta Football, which annually hosts the Senior Bowl for top prospects. The Border Bowl fills a gap to allow players from smaller schools in rural areas to get exposure.
   “It gives rural kids a legitimate shot at being seen,” said Laprise. “There are a lot of kids who have the ability to go on, but they don’t get seen, they don’t have that chance.”
   In its first year, Laprise said the major goal is just to make sure the game goes off without a hitch. As the move forward the event will grow to include possible a banquet. In the future, they are planning to have the Border Bowl games for pee-wees, bantam and senior teams. Next season the game will be in Alberta.

Dynos win silver at home tournament

    The Junior High A Boys DVSS Dynos basketball team was seeing silver after hosting eight teams at their home tournament January 25 and 26.
   The Dynos came out strong versus their cross-town rival the St. Anthony’s Saints and walked off the court with a win.
   This put the Dynos up against Prairie Christian Academy in their second game. The Dynos had a slow start out of the gate and found themselves trailing most of the game.
   “We didn’t give up however, and ended up prevailing 51 to 47,” said coach Al Molzan.
     This put the Dynos into the finals against a strong team from St. Joseph’s Composite High School from Brooks. St. Joseph’s led for the whole game. The Dynos were able to fight back to within four points a couple of times, but couldn’t close the gap, losing 61 -52.
   “It was a tough loss, but was still a great accomplishment to make it into the final, and end up second out of eight teams,” said coach Molzan.
   The Dynos won’t be back on the court until Tuesday February 12, when they head to Linden, and then again on February 14 when they meet in Three Hills. Then it is three tournaments in a row. On February 15 and 16, they are at Prairie Christian Academy, and then on February 22 and 23 they play in Strathmore. On March 1 and 2, the Dynos will be in Strathcona to compete in zones.

The DVSS junior high boys won silver at their home tournament. They are (back; l-r) Brian Flater (Asst. Coach), Travis Molzan, Gerardo Obregoa, Sam Brown, Lincoln Linville, Josh Thomson, Dustin Lo, Garth Giffin, Mackenzie Leitz and Al Molzan (Coach), with (front; l-r) Noah Miles, Zach Flater and Eric Westman.

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