Bulldogs bow out
The overall success of a team cannot not always be measured by the result of a single game.
Although the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs fell to the Louis-Riel Rebelles from Ottawa in the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AA volleyball championship quarter-finals Friday, the season, overall, was a huge success.
“If you told me back in August or September that we were going to walk away as a SOSSA (Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association) champion and in an OFSAA quarter-final battling against one of the best teams on Ontario, I would have taken that,” Churchill head coach Garrett Goodbrand said. “Even though we just lost, and it hurts, if we take a step back and look at the season as whole, I would say it was a success.”
The 10th-seeded Bulldogs were indeed in tough against the second-seeded Rebelles, falling in three sets 25-13, 25-14 and 25-19.
The Rebelles talent level was not lost on Goodbrand.
“We ran into a buzzsaw today, there’s no doubt. I expect them to do some damage tomorrow,” he said.
Louis-Riel is a very complete team, from top to bottom, however they are led by left-side hitter William Gilbert.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete. I mean he’s 6-foot-4, touches over 11-feet and the irony is, he’s a middle in club ball,” Rebelles coach Francois St-Denis said. “With our school, we told him he’s definitely good enough to play on the outside. He can pound it and his decision making has improved tremendously.”
“He’s a smart player, for sure,” Goodbrand noted. “But I appreciated our guys’ heart, our guys’ energy and they never gave up. I told them that mistakes are unavoidable – giving up is unforgivable and they never, ever gave up.”
Although the Bulldogs will graduate co-captains James Lindsay and Owen Scott, the future appears to be bright.
“We’re a young team, the average age is just over 15,” Lindsay noted. “I can’t wait to watch this team in the future. These guys are going to do awesome things next year.”
Although Lindsay has played his final high school volleyball game, his athletic venture is far from over. His post-secondary plan is to play varsity football at McMaster University, however, his more immediate sporting future includes donning the Bulldog blue and gold on their hockey, field lacrosse and ultimate frisbee teams.
Earlier in the day, the Bulldogs split two games to finish second in their pool to advance to the quarter-finals. They defeated Montcalm out of London 25-16, 25-16 before falling to Sudbury’s Lo-Ellen Park 25-18, 25-20.
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