LOYALIST THREE-PEATS AS OCAA DIVISION II MEN'S RUGBY CHAMPIONS

BELLEVILLE, Ont. - The Loyalist Lancers won the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Division II men's rugby championship for the third straight year on Saturday.

Loyalist defeated Algonquin 15-7 in the OCAA gold medal match. The win marked Loyalist's 20th consecutive match without a loss. Loyalist's last loss came in the 2008 gold medal match against St. Lawrence-Kingston.

After having the ball in scoring range multiple times, first-year player Kyle Bernard (Trenton, Ont.) started off the scoring for the match with a hard fought try early on in the first half. Third-year player Brad Charelton (Cannifton, Ont.) came through with the kick to make the score 7-0.

Charelton came through again with a long penalty kick to boost the Lancer's lead to 10-0 going into the half.

Second-year player Luke Shillington (Belleville, Ont.) fought through the strong Algonquin defence to score the second try of the game and make the score 15-0.

Holding strong, Algonquin got on the scoreboard late in the second half with a try from second-year prop Drake Andrews (Rockland, Ont.) and conversion from first-year fly half Jeremy Nesbit (Lindsay, Ont).

Shillington was named Man of the Match for the victorious Lancers. Phil Assad earned Man of the Match honours for Algonquin.

Loyalist defeated Algonquin 35-12 previously in regular season action.

Loyalist finishes the 2011 season with an overall record of 6-0-0. Despite the loss, Algonquin finishes its first-ever OCAA men's rugby season with a silver medal. Algonquin's overall record is 3-3-0.

The match featured OCAA all-stars Jesse Gunter and Connor McCann of Loyalist and Assad and Bill Shaw of Algonquin. McCann was the Division II scoring champion.

Source: Loyalist College with files from OCAA

Photo Credit: Liam Kavanagh-Bradette

- OCAA -

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