Bantam A’s ring in championship
The St. Catharines Athletics bantam A squad capped off a memorable season in true championship style.
The A’s, who defeated Oakville to win the Ontario title in August, Sunday night got together to hand out their championship rings.
“That’s what the kids asked for after they won it,” head coach Bob Fisher said. “Team Ontario gets rings. When I won it 19 years ago, I got a jacket. You outgrow the jacket, but this will last forever.”
Fisher was grateful for the financial assistance provided.
“The St. Catharines Old Boys chipped in and private donations through the Old Boys and the Junior A alumni also chipped in towards it,” he said. “It was good. The community came together for the kids.”
Fisher was proud of the team, which finished with an incredible 28-5-3 record and the best goals against average in Ontario with 80 goals against in 36 games for a 2.22 average. The A’s also won both tournaments they entered in Mimico and Orangeville and captured the Zone 9 A championship.
“Most of these kids played field lacrosse for me too,” Fisher said. “We lost in goal medal game in Ontario A and it just kept going from there.
“They’re a hungry bunch and we put a winter program together, the Winter Warriors, and I had nine of those kids come out for that. They have been working since October of last year for this. Out of 16, 12 kids are playing lacrosse almost year around.”
Individually, captain Keaton Zavitz was named a first team all-star as well as most valuable player. Gavin Howard was part of the Team Ontario bantam box team that won gold while goaltender Oliver Vanyo was the starting goalie for the U15 team Ontario gold medal field lacrosse team.
Fisher, who will be applying for the team for next season, said the squad will being indoor workouts this week.
Other members of the championship squad are: Daylin John-Hill, Ethan Fisher, Colin Walters, Tye Steenhuis, Jacob Rawson, Conner Thomson-Dick, Mitchell Armstrong, Derek Smyth, Colton Armitage, Isaac Prantera, Tyler Stevens, Carter Accursi and Neilo Gray.
Fisher, Dan Armstrong, Mike Accursi and Scott Walters formed the coaching staff while Chris Rawson acted as trainer and April Vanyo as manager.
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