THUNDER BAY -- It was a bittersweet victory for the Churchill Trojans.
On the one hand, they captured their fifth varsity boys title in the past six years. On the other hand, it will be the final one in school history.
With Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute slated for closure in June, Monday’s straight set win over the St. Patrick Saints was a way for Robinson Bates and his teammates to leave a championship legacy behind.
“It means everything,” Bates said after hoisting the trophy in front of the home-court crowd.
“There definitely was a sense that this was our last chance to prove ourselves as a team. As the school is closing next year, we had nothing to lose and left it all out on the court and did the best we possibly could.”
It was the Saints who had the early edge in the match, jumping out to a 16-11 lead in the first set. Twice they had a chance to put the opener away, but failed, allowing the Trojans the chance to complete the comeback and escape with a 27-25 win.
It just got easier from there, Churchill taking the second set 25-19 and closing out their championship run with a 25-10 win in the third.
“That first set was definitely a big one. The boys really pulled through there. It wasn’t looking too good there, but we managed to pull through, get some points off defence and really earned that set and gained some momentum there for the rest of the game,” Bates said.
Veteran Tyler Kakegamic, who plans to attend Canadore College in North Bay to continue his volleyball career, said it was a good season from start to finish for the top-ranked Trojans.
“We really improved from the beginning of the season like crazy,” he said. “It was good – two years in a row.”
Coach Scott Masters, who has guided the team for the past 15 years, said it was a pretty good way to close down the Trojans program, especially after the slow start.
Hats off to the Saints, he added.
“They finished sixth in the season, but they weren’t a sixth-place team. They battled really well against us last time, taking us to five sets, and battled really well today,” Masters said.
The Saints last won the varsity boys volleyball championship in 1981.
