Flyers regroup to capture OFSAA AAA gold
The road to the school’s 12th Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ senior boys volleyball gold medal and first at the AAA level was anything but smooth for the Eden Flyers.
“Moving up to AAA was definitely an adjustment,” Eden head coach Bill Markham said. “There were a lot of good teams and so you had to be on the top of your game for every match. We lost focus on that fact in our round-robin games and it cost us.”
Eden went 2-2 in round-robin play to finish fourth in their pool. The Flyers lost 2-0 (16-25 and 27-29) to Kingston Secondary School, beat Oakville Trafalgar 2-0 (25-21 and 25-20), lost 2-1 to Upper Canada College (27-25, 22-25 and 6-15) and defeated St. John’s College 2-0 (25-22 and 25-14).
“The unfortunate reality was because we came in fourth, we had to play A.N. Myer in the elimination quarter-final. We had already played them at SOSSA (Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association) and we knew they were a very good team,” he said. “We had to reclaim our game plan and execute it with tenacity and focus.”
Before the game, Eden held a players-only meeting to discuss what it wanted to accomplish and what had to happen to make that a reality.
“This for me was the turning point,” Markham said. “When they decided to take responsibility for their part in the team’s success, we became a different team.”
The rejuvenated Flyers then knocked off Myer 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 20-25 and 25-18) in quarter-finals, Kingston 3-2 (21-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-22 and 15-10) in semifinals and then Oakville Trafalgar 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 25-27 and 27-25) in the championship match.
“We had to fight and claw our way through every match,” he said. “We were often behind, but when it counted, they executed the game plan and things went our way.”
Markham felt any of the teams Eden played in the tournament could have won the gold.
“It just came down to which team was not willing to get distracted by the moment and who was willing to do all the little things like being in the exact right spot defensively, transitioning off the net so you can have a full approach, and communicating what is happening on the other side of the net and how you want to counter it. That made a huge difference.”
The scores of the matches told the story in Markham’s eyes.
“When you win most of your sets by two points, it just means it could have swung either way but you refused to give up on the game plan, on each other, and yourself,” he said. “That comes when you truly trust each other as teammates and this is what that team meeting accomplished.”
Eden won AA gold medals from 2006 to 2013 and then again in 2015, 2018 and 2019. An increase in the school’s population meant the team moved up to the AAA level.
“This OFSAA was different in that it was our first experience at the AAA level, we had a shortened season due to COVID so we had to try to gain team chemistry with less game play, and we had to overcome more adversity than normal for us,” Markham said. “All that said, the boys showed the heart of a champion. They never gave up and always believed that we could win in any situation if we just kept doing the right things. Character is revealed in crises and these guys came out on top by sheer will and determination. I am so proud of, and happy, for them.”
Members of the OFSAA championship team are K.J. Robinson, Andres Reid, Britton Burrows, Jonah Doerkson, Blake Friesen, Pierson Fritz, Phillip Kovac, Noah Landry, Evan McNivan, Cam Miniti, Cohen Reimer, Robison, Sawyer Ropp, Owen Saxton, Jordan Schroeder and Maxim Tyominiub.
The Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 3 champion Marauders finished first in pool play with a 4-0 record. Myer defeated St. Marcellinus 2-1 (28-26, 21-25 and 15-11), Regiopolis ND 2-0 (25-16 and 25-14), Lasalle 2-1 (19-25, 30-28 and 15-11) and T.A. Stewart 2-0 (25-20 and 25-13).
“We played the best volleyball of the season up at OFSAA and you can’t really ask for much more than that,” Myer head coach Joanne Thomson said. “Going 4-0 in pool play was amazing and the boys really showed a lot of heart. It was very unfortunate that Eden came in fourth in their pool and we had to play them in the quarterfinals.”
Thomson thought that match should have happened in the medal round.
“We had a great run and a successful season and I am very proud of the boys,” she said. “They made the return to sports worth the wait.”
